Consequences
by Irene Claire
Summary: Prompt from CinderH after "The Very Definition of Danno" and a suggestion to do something similar with Steve. Summary: Steve follows a suspect with his usual careless style of leaping before looking that drives Danny crazy. This time he's injured. Angry and upset, Danny uses each letter of the alphabet to describe Steve. Danny then decides he has a drastic decision to make.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes: ** there may be some minor, bad language here and there. Steve whump/Danny whump eventually - definitely much angst. I need to thank a cast of characters too for getting this kick-started beginning with CinderH for the idea. Then Fifilla, Synbou, JazzieG ... and the many "is this stupid?" emails.

*** H50 * H50 * H50 * H50 * H50 ***

**Chapter 1**

Danny was the antithesis of his usual self. Vocal had been replaced by a monotonous mono-syllabic tone that only resounded dully if he might be asked a question. Other than that, he wasn't speaking at all. His usual expressive demeanor was gone and while he seemed attentive, he was barely listening or paying attention to what was going on around him.

What remained was the whirlwind though because Danny Williams wasn't designed to ever be completely still. He was a silent whirlwind of ceaseless, nearly spastic movement. His blank face was lined with stressful, preoccupied thoughts and he hadn't left the hospital in eighteen hours, sixteen minutes and seconds that mounted at an excruciatingly slow counted pace.

His seventh round of the second floor brought him back to square one. Square one was where it all started ... and ended. There was truly nothing in between except a riot of white noise and a blurring sense of colors.

Danny palmed both eyes as he came to a stop at the foot of the plain hospital bed. When he stopped, his eyes were still closed and he blindly leaned forward knowing by a newly learned habit that the foot of the bed would be exactly where it was.

"You're a moron. A complete and utter moron, Steven." He'd seen his partner do it a thousand times. Well, perhaps not that many. Regardless, it had always shocked him, frightened him and left him feeling as if he himself, were the only mere mortal. Steve always came out on the other side .. mostly unscathed and always holding the bad guy by the scruff of his neck.

A broken window or an open sliding glass door and a leap into a great unknown after a fleeing perpetrator had become a kind of sick joke. It left Danny weak in the knees and with a jolt of fear that always morphed into anger about what could have happened. Except for this time when the fear morphed into an anger ... that fell back into a mind-numbing fear when Danny caught up and followed Steve's body ... down. Straight down to the ground.

"This time it happened, you ass. This time it really happened. Why don't you ever listen to me?" Danny ran his hands over his face and up into his hair. He dimly noted that he was shaking again and knew someone would notice eventually. Kono or Chin; if not them, than Doc Ramirez or is wife, Ellen.

He looked at his watch and counted eighteen hours, thirty-two minutes and a continual tick of second after second ... after second ...and thirty-two became thirty-three minutes.

Danny leaned on the edge of the bed frame and eventually found Steve's face under the tubes that ran into him for the ventilator. The tan on his face was gone. The healthy, vibrant complexion was gone. Steve looked as if he was almost _gone_ and Danny felt that fresh flare of anger. Finally.

"It's not allowed. Not like this. Do it again and we talk about new partners. You're going to be the death of me." The twenty-something killer had died on impact; Steve was hanging on, but barely. The kid had fallen like a lead balloon onto the concrete sidewalk from the second story balcony after slamming through the glass sliders.

Steve had followed.

"Why do you always ... so damned ... _stupid_ .. without thinking? What exactly did you think .. was going to happen?" Danny whispered brokenly as he remembered the familiar shock of Steve following through the broken glass. He remembered the sound first. The shrill of glass breaking and then the crunch of booted feet as they crushed the large splintered pieces into the rug. Then harsh sound amplified as two solid steps ground the shards into the tiny concrete landing.

His heart had been in his throat when he caught the final glimpse of his partner hurtling over the balcony's concrete ledge into blue sky. This time though, Danny's heart had yet to come down.

"You know what? There's not going to be an again. Ever." Danny whispered as the ventilator made its horrifying methodical rhythmic whoosh in and then out. He had expected to see his usual miracle: Steve grinning like a maniacal fool back up at him with wily perpetrator firmly in hand. It could be in a swimming pool, on another balcony .. hell, on the wings of an eagle. It had happened so many times before, Danny was left stunned by the final reality of what he saw. Luck had finally been worn out and the SEAL failed against gravity.

The twenty-something lay dead on the concrete sidewalk. Prone on his stomach with an acre of blood running from every orifice on his head and face. Almost mesmerized by the dead kid, it had taken Danny a few seconds to find his partner.

When he finally saw him, Danny couldn't find his voice and was running back downstairs and out through the lobby before he commanded his feet to move. Orders were shouted to Chin and Kono for back-up, crowd control and an ambulance.

In that one look, he had seen all that he needed to know.

Steve was four-feet off to the right. His lower body was partially suspended in a large bank of shrubs that were the focal point of a beautifully landscaped oval garden. He had missed the concrete sidewalk by four lousy feet and yet, had still landed very badly. The deep greenery of the bushes had broken his fall from the second story hotel room. Booted feet faced the sky and his upper body was oddly contorted towards the earth half-suspended in a free fall position. A flash of blue, black and _red_ against light and dark greenery that baked hotly in the full afternoon sun. Steve's torso, shoulders and head faced downwards towards the grass of the perfectly manicured lawn. His arms and head lay in the dirt and he was woefully trapped. He'd been impaled by two sturdy branches and fairly crushed the rest into the ground but was still hanging as if in mid-air. The center of the now nearly crushed bushes would have an imprint of the man's body until the skilled landscapers could prune away the branches that would undoubtedly die.

When Danny reached him and fell to his knees between flowers and smashed greenery, he didn't know what to do for the oddity of the injuries and entrapment. He remembered to be vaguely amazed that Steve still had his gun in his hand and Danny automatically thumbed the safety on before prying it from his fingers.

_"Steve?_" He shook his head in disbelief as he lay his hand gently on the side of Steve's bloody and twig-scratched face. Danny could hear the sirens coming closer and he felt the crowd gathering behind him. But then Kono and Chin were there to push the gawkers back and away from both the suspect's body and the injured Five-0 officer.

One branch had pierced Steve's left thigh and blood oozed steadily towards his belt and was already soaking into his dark blue t-shirt. When Danny bent down to see Steve's face, he saw the second branch embedded into his side. It was strange to work on the upside down man, but Danny yanked his belt out and pulled it tightly around the wound in his thigh to slow the steady drip of blood. Then he didn't know what to do until more help arrived.

With half his body was suspended two-feet above the ground, Steve was stuck in the dense bushes and semi-conscious. He was breathing hard and beginning to struggle blindly as the blood rushed to his head. His forearms lay in the dirt as gloved fingers scrabbled for purchase and he tried to push up.

_"Steve. Don't move. Help's on the way." _ Danny had grabbed the gloved hands that were flailing weakly as if still in free-fall. The shrubs had creaked, groaned, then cracked to settle more and Steve had gasped and then gurgled in response to another downwards shift. Larger branches sagged but wouldn't free him entirely and Danny didn't know what to do or how to help.

When Chin, Kono and the EMT's arrived it took all of their combined muscle along with the bolt cutters to cut their friend free from his strange cage. That was only after the EMT's had fastened a neck brace around their newest patient and instructed the workers on how to move him best to the waiting back-board.

_"Did he hit his head?" _Danny was frantic as Steve was moved to a gurney and the technicians got a better look at the injuries. He huffed out a stunned sound when each confirmed the streaky blood was coming from a myriad of scratches. He was lucky and he hadn't connected with the hard ground or anything in between.

Steve hadn't quite woken from the semi-conscious state though. In fact, he had stayed weakly combative and disagreeable from the time he'd been strapped to the back-board and moved into the rear of the ambulance. Then he had abruptly stilled as soon as Danny hauled himself in behind the last medical technician.

That had been now nineteen hours ago and Danny refused to leave the ICU at Tripler Army Medical Center. He blatantly flaunted his friendship with Doctor Alphonse Ramirez and if that appeared to be failing, his badge did the rest.

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes:** thank you for the encouraging first reviews! the muses love Danny angst; but there will be Steve POV quite soon.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O***

**Chapter Two: Letters A through D**

Danny didn't realize he was doing it at first. When he did, a small smile leaked out and then he shook his head ruefully for his own, personal benefit.

"Now I'm the one that's stupid." At the twenty-second hour mark he was over-tired and stubbornly awake as he stared at Steve's face. He could almost swear that he was watching each bruise form near the many scratches. Some were longer than others and a few were quite deep. One though, had landed jaggedly and much too closely to Steve's left eye.

So concerned, Ramirez had called at ophthalmologist to be certain, and sighed in relief when no corneal abrasions or injuries were found. But two tiny stitches were laid in the corner of his lid which had been torn. The cuts were close, but close didn't count in this respect and it was good news.

"Arrogant bastard." Danny whispered out loud and dared Steve to hear him through the heavy sedation. **Letters A and B **were defined and said in a temper because frankly, he was still mad at Steve.

"Damn fool. Since when can you fly or did you conveniently forget that you weren't completely invincible? We're having a talk about this later. You can count on it."

The dense shrubbery had essentially saved Steve from imminent death. However, he was far from out of danger. His injuries reflected a type of blunt force trauma and he was on a ventilator to save his lungs and heart from having to work too hard.

He had roused briefly for Doctor Ramirez shortly after being admitted. His slurred complaint about both abdominal and chest pain came on seconds before he went into cardiac arrest. He was miraculously stabilized, intubated and immediately put on mechanical ventilation.

As a result of blunt force trauma, Steve had a heart contusion and then his lungs were equally problematic. Unequal breath sounds caused Ramirez to identify a tension pneumothorax and thoracic tubes were inserted into both sides of his chest. It was those things that you couldn't see which were most frightening and Danny glowered at the odd display of tubes and wires.

From the E.R., Steve had been moved to the ICU and then Danny had been forcibly removed from the room early on as the heart monitor trilled a desperate warning once again. Two episodes of a frightening ventricular tachycardia had brought the ICU staff running and Steve was now on a specialized drug to stabilize his heart rate. It had already done its job to control the much too rapid beat, but Danny looked up now as the monitor tweaked and he paled.

"Not again." In a few short hours, he'd learned where to stand in the small room to become invisible and removed from the activity. The staff had learned to ignore him out of necessity. Danny leaned towards that corner now in case the nurse or doctor arrived, but until then he remained at the foot of the bed where he strangled the frame with both hands.

**The letters C and D. **

"You ruined your damned cargo pants again. They're ripped to shreds." It was a sad excuse for the letter C, but it brought to mind the word _camouflage_ which only irked Danny even more since it was a militaristic one.

In his tight anger, Danny's face was dark with worry and he realized that Steve was definitely more cool-headed than he. Sometimes. Only _sometimes_. He made a sound under his breath and mentally added _character. "Leave no man behind, Danno."_

He set his jaw and clacked his teeth together angrily. "Who really talks like that, Rambo? Who?"

Danny hadn't realized how much character the man had until he experienced his relentless loyalty first-hand.

"I'll give you another one, too." His hands were shaking again from fatigue and emotion that was just below the surface.

"You are one of the most single-minded, focused and determined people I know." Danny was thinking of nearly every aspect of Steve's life which he took by the scruff and shook viciously and relentlessly until he got what he wanted out of it: especially Wo Fat and Shelburne. Which only made his stomach clench more as his ire rose.

The 'dear Danno' letter still left a hollow, frightening pit in his stomach. The man had stupidly ventured .. _alone_ .. on his own personal mission of vengeance and left a note on a scrap of paper as if he were merely going to the store for a carton of milk or a dozen eggs. Another ill-considered trip had him aiding a supposed friend who had actually laid a trap out of their own misguided wants and desires. More proven instances of leaping before looking and Danny cursed quietly under his breath at the comparison.

How did he get involved so very closely with this man in such a way as_ to follow him_ with yet another pack of rabid SEAL hounds? Sometimes Danny felt like a victim, and today was a case in point.

"Dog with a bone, Steve. You'd worry my own mother out of her stilettos. Now focus on yourself and get out of this mess. Then .. we talk."

At first nothing happened as the heart monitor maintained a peaceful, steady pace. Then the blip reappeared to warble dangerously and Danny hung his head for a moment. His tone shifted and the last many hours of weariness echoed in the room. Steve's bloody thigh and side injuries where he had been spiked by thick branches had been cleaned and sutured with the thigh wound being the worst of the two.

Without Danny's quick thinking, Steve would have bled out from the ripped artery. Now though, the chest and cardiac trauma were his truest enemies. Ponch had been honest about the mortality rate if the tachycardia had persisted and his heart had simply stopped working from the severity of the blunt-force trauma.

"Take it easy. Relax, buddy. Let the damned medication do its job." His tone was softer but his voice held a strong note of anger, though. His partner even had to fight those things meant to help him and now was most definitely not the time.

As if in reply, the machine had the gall to tweak again and then it happily calmed. But Danny only slowly heaved out a deep breath, not quite sure he believed it.

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes:** A kind reader (Rheadoe) was nice enough to point out a dreadful 'historical' error in chapter 2 which has since been corrected! Them facts can be confusing! Thank you for pointing out the Danno letter, Japan and Korea mix up - it has been all corrected. *phew*!

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O***

**Chapter Three - Letters E through G**

In the recesses of his mind, Danny was perfectly correct because Steve was fighting. Something had happened and his mind played tricks as it replayed a splintered memory of running, leaping into blue sky, and falling over and over again. Light green became dark green before there was a solid thundering jolt that took his breath away. Then, a brownish haze followed by the blackness he was stuck in now. The sensations repeated themselves and he gasped silently as his body began to spiral in the dark.

He had jumped into of the sky so many times without a problem, he'd lost count. Falling never scared him and he felt as at home in the air as he did in the sea. It was second nature, exhilarating, and Steve had naturally learned to embrace the sky ... but this time something had happened and he couldn't stop. The blue was gone, the beauty had left him, and except for a persistent buzz of noise, he was wholly lost in space.

In his mind, his body started to fall once more and he jerked in reaction as he lost control and spun. The spin increased and he fell longer and farther than he ever had before. It was so real, that he believed it when his mind told him that he would keep falling and never stop. The swirling darkness and his mental warning finally got his attention and Steve began to fight the feeling but he couldn't overcome it.

Something had happened. He was out of control and a never before experienced panic was beginning to edge into his mind as he waited for the pain which oddly never came. '_There's no ground._' Steve silently gasped in his mind again. He would fall forever. "_There's no pain because there's no ground.'_

Alone, in the dark and confused, he was still determined to fight though even if he didn't know why .. or even against what. The panic grew until he heard the buzz again and realized the sound was Danny. There were no words, just a constant deep, sonorous buzz of sound that was all Danny. That he was certain of; even in the midst of falling he could hear the typical ranting tone of his partner complaining. The familiarity calmed him and Steve focused on the sound as it dipped, ebbed and then rose to still the motion.

Behind closed lids, Steve's eyes moved and the most subtle of twitches rippled through his fingers. He tried harder against the chemical sedation but that was all he could conquer.

"He's doing it again." Danny looked up when Chin and Kono came in together early that morning. His eyes were bloodshot and the tremble in his hands had only worsened. There were times when Steve seemed aware and he was watching his friend like a hawk though the medical staff had assured him that Steve was virtually in an induced coma-like state.

"I'm telling you he moved." The nurse waited tolerantly for him to finish speaking but made no move to check on Steve. Her only ability was to persistently repeat what Doctor Ramirez had explained. Except when the doctor said it, he was infinitely more understanding.

Her annoying steadfast nature irked Danny no end and had she read the aggravated Detective better, she never would have continued to correct him. "Not yet. It's impossible, sir."

"Danny." Chin sighed and abruptly said no more. They could tell he was equally angry and incredibly worried as he shook his head and declined their offer before they could voice it. However, the head nurse had other ideas which she enforced with a strident command.

"One visitor at a time. One, maybe two but I can't allow three." She glared at Danny, not too unkindly for their ongoing disagreement, though she was now adamant. Then she had the brave gall to grab his arm which he all but tore from her fingers. Kono was stunned as she watched the near silent standoff and realized it had happened before but Danny had won the prior battles. Her arrival with Chin was giving the nurse new ammunition and she would finally persevere and prevail.

"Out! Go get something to eat, take a walk, and come back later." Her severe look was suddenly aimed at Kono and then her cousin. The demand now extended to them. It was clearly coming across wrong, but she was only trying to help. Her method merely matched the mood of the recalcitrant man as Danny glowered at her quietly.

"One of you will please make sure he does that. Now."

"I'll stay." Kono knew that Chin would have better luck managing Danny's obstinate mood and she was immediately relieved when he put a calming arm around their friend's shoulders.

Danny didn't resist Chin as his face fell and the nurse gladly moved aside to give them room to pass. Under his arm, Chin could practically feel the exhausted vibration as he walked Danny out of the ICU and down to the large cafeteria.

"I know he heard me." Danny mumbled once they had gotten coffee and a light breakfast. Though he had better choice words in mind, he managed to keep them to himself. "That nurse is clueless."

"No doubt." Chin huffed a quiet, agreeable sound that added weight to his words. "I'm sure he did. Steve may be sedated, but I'm sure he knows on some level that we're all here for him."

The sensible comments eased Danny's volatile state and he sighed to express his thanks as they chose a secluded table in the cafeteria. His eyes were burning from fatigue and he closed them while listening to the sounds around him. Someone accidentally dropped a tray and he flinched as a bowl rolled over and over again on the hard floor.

"Go home, Danny." Chin was soft, reasonable and comforting as he studied his exhausted friend.

"Why? Why bother?" He frowned at the irritable response and hung his own head. Grace was on holiday with her mother and Stan. Danny was alone and the concept of a much too quiet apartment was a sad affair. He knew that Danny would never actually rest let alone sleep, so Chin didn't push the idea.

"You're right." His words once again had the desired effect and Danny relaxed more as the argument he had anticipated was cleanly diffused. There was another option though and Chin would try something else.

Ramirez had graciously offered his office and that had a somewhat comfortable faux-leather sofa along the far wall. Pillows and blankets awaited anyone needing a well-deserved rest.

"Go lay down in Doc's office. Just for a little while." Chin reminded him of that fact as Danny finished the last of his coffee. He checked his watch and smiled since there was enough time before the doctor arrived that morning.

"It's only eight and Doc gets in at eleven. Kono and I will be here." He was relieved when Danny nodded and then silently got to his feet. He blinked tiredly at Chin for a minute as if he might say something; it seemed important as his mouth opened but then after a long second, simply closed. With a shake of his head, Danny only heaved another sigh and wandered off.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O***

As Danny closed the door to Doctor Ramirez's office, he blearily noted that two pillows and a pile of neatly folded blankets were waiting as promised. For him .. or them .. whichever member of the team might decide to take the kind doctor up on his generous offer.

Ponch's office faced West which made the room dimly lit by natural light. It was even dark when Danny closed the blinds. He sighed in relief as he toed off his shoes and folded himself into one of the blankets. Then almost against his will, Danny was dozing though his brain was in a tired over-drive of sorts before giving up entirely.

_**Letters E through G**_

He thought of Steve's eagerness to take on the seemingly impossible and his enthusiastic attitude. His partner was a large child sometimes that liked to play with dangerous explosives. Danny tossed and turned a bit and then growled under his breath because his brain refused to stop playing the game.

"Explosives. Damn fool." His heavy eyes refused to open though as he stressed '_fool_' but then admitted Steve was fearless. It was an undeniable truth that the SEAL was utterly fearless and where he lay now supported the adjective.

That trait frightened Danny the most .. as it did now, and he swallowed hard against a burning, tightness in his chest that rocked him from his doze. The feeling got his eyes to snap open and he wound up staring at the side of the doctor's solid dark-wood desk. However, his anger dwindled away to a persistent feeling of sadness.

"News flash, Steven. You're not a winged god, damn-it. Certain people need you around here." He complained to himself as he blinked away weary tears. Grace with her special Uncle Steve was foremost in his mind. She didn't have any special Aunts or Uncles other than real family back in New Jersey. But here was different for the both of them and they'd gotten too close.

He ground his jaw in frustration for the many new meaningful words he'd learned and added into his daily and already quite ample vocabulary. "Too close." Danny muttered to himself. They all translated into people and uniquely important things. So, he naturally meant himself too; and of course, Catherine, Steve's sister Mary, Kono and Chin. The list would tally on with Kamekona, Max and so many others that he had to stop thinking.

Danny forced himself to settle down while realizing he was being foolish. He was positive that he was simply drained of energy and because of that, even more emotional than usual. Tossing and turning on the couch, it took some time but his body eventually defeated the churning in his brain and he fell asleep.

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes: ** future chapters will slow down a bit - they are done, just working on getting things right and I'm going into more surgical discussions starting today in NYC. Tomorrow is also mother-dear's b'day so we are celebrating around my doctor appointments. ;-)

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O***

**Chapter Four: Letters H through J, with a touch of K**

There was no concept of time, but Steve heard them again and after what seemed like a long lull. He heard them just as the sensation of being in free-fall became less persistent; or maybe it was hearing them that prevented the feeling from taking a firmer hold. It didn't actually matter either way. Steve welcomed the familiar tones because they drove the darkness away and evened out the swirling, even if they might not entirely have conquered it.

The sensation of falling had an artificial quality to it but it insisted upon lurking and pulling him back. He valiantly fought to push it away and keep it at bay. Steve learned quickly that if he grabbed on to the sounds and focused on them with a strong determination, it worked despite an inability to actually hear true words. The panic never returned because one steady buzz in particular was always identifiable as his partner; he could hear the timbre of Danny's temper and it soothed any odd anxiety away.

_"Temper, Danno?" _Steve vaguely settled on that and wondered what had happened; what he did. Other times Danny was replaced and Steve sensed Chin, Kono and a few others that he couldn't more readily put names to.

_Something had happened_ and Steve was only becoming more anxious to know what it was; what he had done because that too, was becoming obvious. He was attempting to form that more cohesive thought when he felt a warm pressure suddenly grasp his fingers and another warmth lay across the same forearm. Those warm tangible feelings were new and with them, Steve finally recognized a lethargic coldness everywhere else. It was as artificial as the free-fall sensation and disturbing.

The heavy coldness certainly wasn't pleasant and the inability to move or make a sound was yet another stunning self-revelation which brought back the faint stirrings of the same old panic. A dull weight settled across his chest which added to this new general discomfort. It all became distracting, startling, and the dizzying free-fall threatened him again, so in a desperate move Steve tried hard to focus back on the two spots of warmth.

With huge effort, Steve focused on his fingers and tried to will them to move. The voices seemed to coalesce and then the drone became more of a pleased, deep thrum. For some reason, Danny came to mind immediately and he knew then that he had succeeded in making his fingers twitch.

Something had indeed happened, but Danny was there. Despite not knowing the passage of time, Steve did know that his partner rarely had left him alone. Which likely did mean that Chin and Kono were equally nearby as he had thought earlier. Steve's brain was a murky place though and he couldn't quite do more than focus on the exhausting task of feeling the steady pressure that warmed just two spots on his stubborn body.

He knew that Danny _knew_ .. he could sense it even if what he'd accomplished was barely stronger than a falling leaf. If he had been able to truly awaken, he'd have even more proof since Danny's face was fairly radiant with relief. His smug expression was for the doctor who had been excessively kind if not entirely convinced up until that point.

Doctor Ramirez was standing on the opposite side of the bed across from Danny. He watched in awe as Steve's fingers moved once and then twice before falling quiet His patient was still sedated for the ventilator but Danny had been absolutely correct.

"I told you. He's a hard-headed, stubborn son-of-a-bitch." Danny was gloating because now Steve did seem invincible once again. Pale and silent, but not entirely unmoving and therefore not as '_gone_' as Danny had feared. "What about pain management? This doesn't mean that he's in pain, though ... or does it?"

He understood that Ramirez wouldn't remove the sedation for hours or even days yet to come. He understood that Steve should be lying there peacefully and then would wake and would still not be entirely well. His heart and lungs were badly compromised and he needed the ventilator to heal. But Steve was aware on some level and fighting whatever darkness he was being forced to lie in.

"No, he's not in any pain that we can recognize. His readings are calm and steady." In his characteristic manner, Ponch shoved his hands deeply into his pockets. He'd found Danny sleeping soundly in his office, had snuck in and then out to complete his rounds. It was now mid-afternoon and Danny had rejoined Chin and Kono in the ICU to find the doctor evaluating Steve's progress.

"But yes, the Commander is certainly hard-headed and that will help him overcome this accident." Ponch admitted as he approved of the consistently agreeable readings. "He needs time though, Danny. He's not going to bounce right back from this even after we wean him off the sedation and remove the ventilator."

The warning sobered the team but Steve's own inconceivable and often infuriating stubbornness stood greatly in his favor.

"He's also a Class A Jerk and we're going to have a talk .. no, an intervention .. when he gets better about his irresponsible behavior." Danny ground out worriedly with just a touch of lightness that refused to leave since Steve had moved his fingers in his hand. He had provided the proof that Danny needed at just the right time for Doctor Ramirez and that validation was absolutely fine as long as he wasn't in any pain. He couldn't help rubbing Steve's arm and leaning down to lob another warning at the lax face.

"Really, Steven. If jumping over of a hotel balcony after a drug-ridden lunatic to land in a tree doesn't prove it, then nothing will." Kono sniffed back a chuckle at the sarcastic tone, while Chin snorted behind a lop-sided grin. They were all pleased that Danny had gotten a decent few hours of rest. Though he was still on edge, his mood had improved significantly. The fact that Steve had heard them and had replied despite the strength of the prescribed medication lifted their spirits.

Chin folded his arms and shrugged for the big doctor's benefit. "He knows we got his back. He knows we're here and we will be waiting to help him through it."

"But he is a jerk." Defiantly, Kono repeated what Danny had said as she eyed the still frightening ventilator and its constant rhythmical sounds. They were all kindred spirits and it was odd when Danny and Ponch seemed to find the word at the same time. There was a soft smile from Kono as she clued in on the same thing but Danny didn't understand what she whispered.

"Uhane kiaʻi." It was the closest thing she could come up with in Hawaiian and Chin nodded in approval. "It's like a kindred spirt .. more of a guardian spirit."

"He certainly needs one." Even though Danny knew that she meant all of them together, he couldn't help the wry comment. As annoyed as he continued to be, Danny knew that it was the reason the team worked in complete harmony together. Regardless or possibly because of it, an intervention was on Steve's horizon though. _ "Jerk." _Danny kept that to himself before softly agreeing with her. "But no, Kono, I get it and it's perfect. You're right."

Their eyes met as they looked at each other without the further need for translation being spoken out loud. Every person in the room had a purpose and a vested interest in healing their friend. On top of it all, even Steve recognized that they were there for him. It was as if they all simply knew the truth of it and Ponch couldn't help smiling at the team in return.

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	5. Chapter 5

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes: **So, everyone's prayers are amazing. The surgical follow-up in NYC was quite interesting. ASTOUNDING is the right word.

Of course, more tests next week ... but it seems as if the terrible, SCARY and nasty "it's the size of an orange" growth is "gone". Doctor can't readily explain it .. hence, more tests. At this point, I need this other test too to be sure I believe it.

But no surgery right now and everything is postponed. The doc is THRILLED - I am BEYOND THRILLED. So, wow - REALLY weird but amazingly, wonderful stuff!

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O***

**Chapter Five: Letters L - O**

Usually he heard their gentle buzz of sound, but this time Steve felt them return first. Chin had been there and then there was a short lull of absolute silence; now Kono and Danny had rejoined him. He was becoming desperate to waken and avoid the spiral that constantly lurked. He tried harder to make that fact known as he successfully managed to move both his hands this time. Weak, definitely not consistent, and not nearly as sustained for as long as he wanted - but Steve did it and he celebrated the short-lived success.

_"No. You aren't listening." _Steve moaned the words in his head as their warmth continued but nothing happened to help him. He was almost afraid then that they would never understand or that possibly, he didn't understand and maybe that was the real problem.

Steve barely heard the vibration of their voices. He couldn't pull himself closer to them no matter how hard he tried and he suddenly gave up to accept what he could sense.

Something had happened.

"_Danny?_" Steve tried to think and found that failed too. He was forced to hang in limbo between the people that he sensed would never leave him and the pitch blackness of the downwards spiral that was determined to claim him. With a herculean effort he tried once more, moved his fingers just enough, and then lost the battle to an induced sleep.

Danny was bending over Steve when the fingers simply slackened in both their hands. "He's out again." Danny complained before habitually checking the clock. Doctor Ramirez was pleased with the stabilizing vital signs and Steve's heart was maintaining a normal sinus rhythm, but he was loathe to rush _time_.

His last words to Danny were barely patient and he would not be swayed. _"To rush this would be folly, Detective. The fact that he is improving is testament to his care and the track that we're on."_

In other words, Ramirez was uninterested in the constant questions and potential to move-up the time to take Steve off the sedation and then the ventilator.

They stood that way until Steve seemed to lose his flagging strength to sleep deeply again. Heaving a long suffering sigh, Danny leaned back down even though this time, he was sure Steve couldn't hear him. "Soon. Just a few more hours, Steve."

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O***

The two sat briefly before Danny was on the move again; this time, down to the small gift shop for a newspaper and magazine to thumb through. He found Kono staring out the hospital window when he returned to the room and settled himself in a chair. He tossed her the magazine before opening the daily paper to the first page.

"Okay. Here's one. He's a natural leader." Danny had made Kono privy to his quiet game and he looked up from the newspaper he wasn't exactly reading to verbalize his suggestion. Chin had left to take a break and in his worried boredom, Danny had clued Kono in on his private musings. She'd been instantly taken with the game and had been happy to help keep Danny's mind engaged and possibly not as focused on what had happened.

"That works, but it's too obvious. I have something better." Her rebuff was lightly offered and it was obvious by her shrug that she preferred it over leader. "I thought you'd say loyal."

"No, what I wanted to say was lunatic." Danny chuckled which earned him an exasperated look. So to keep the peace, he agreed with Kono's choice albeit with a twisted compromise.

"Fine, he's our loyal, lunatical leader. I'm revoking his ability to use the word _benevolent_ in any future sentence."

"What? That's not even a word!" Kono complained with a disgusted shake of her head. "Lunatical?"

"Fine. I can move on to moron." The mumbled snark was almost too loud and Kono glared in shock at the one word which came too close on the heels of lunatic and the non-word of lunatical.

It all proved Danny still wasn't far off from his dismal thoughts and prior moodiness. Though what else would Danny come up with in his current, still somewhat ruffled temper. His pleasure at Steve's earlier attempts to communicate had moved back into a snarky, sarcastic place since Ramirez stayed his medical course of action. Now too, the newspaper had become an issue.

"Five-0 Officer Gravely Injured. Suspect Dies."

The newspaper headline angered him and he never should have read the annoying article in its entirety. In fact, Kono had frowned and then looked away when she read it, herself. With a headache blossoming, Danny was getting tired again as his mental frustration mounted in spades and he replayed Steve's halo'd t-shirted back disappearing out a window into a sun-filled blue sky. At that moment with that fresh memory repeating itself thanks to the local paper, he wasn't interested in having a long heart-to-heart conversation with his partner anymore .. he was once again approaching a different and very personal realization.

"Not nice, brah." Kono let it go as she tried to distract him again, and then wouldn't say any of the words she'd come up with in milliseconds. She grinned to herself as _masculine, macho, and muscular _rolled teasingly through her thoughts and Danny narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"What? What's so funny?" He squinted when she shrugged again and then almost blushed. He ground his jaw, rattled the paper in warning, and then realized that it all compounded his private decision. The black and white images of the front page showing the external view of the second floor balcony and cordoned off sidewalk with distant medical personnel rattled him once more. If anything, the reverse perspective looking upwards from the ground was worse.

"Not a thing." Kono grinned. But Danny suddenly wasn't interested in the game or knowing what Kono might have conjured up.

"Forget it. I don't want to know .. you're right." Danny waited longer and immediately felt bad when Kono's face fell in disappointment. Trying to ignore her expression, he hid behind the newspaper until he heard her aggrieved sigh. He frowned, tried to hide and was completely reluctant to participate, but he felt compelled to change his mind again and from behind the paper, one muffled word emanated.

"Machine-gun." Kono pounced on it right away with a short laugh.

"That's not .. no. Can't use it, Danny!" She snorted and had to smile even if she couldn't see his face. There was another short silence until Danny dropped the newspaper, looked into her eyes, and then stared at Steve's much too quiet body. Her smile faded because the mood was back.

"Maddening." He was angry again as he crumpled the paper haphazardly and got to his feet. "He's maddening .. the machines .. this whole thing. When he wakes .. I'm .."

His almost said _done_ but stopped in time to allow his voice to trail off roughly before he slammed the newspaper into the chair. "Sorry, Kono. I need some air."

"I know, Danny." Kono watched him spin in place and then leave the room and the ICU in a furious huff.

Alone, she shook her head in complete agreement. "Maddening it is."

Kono stared at the lax face and the unmoving strong hands that were so out of place in a hospital bed. The sheets were starkly white against his healthy tan of those same hands which peeked out from bandages and IV ports. The doctor had no plans to lessen the sedation in the near future. They were just passing the thirty-six hour mark and Ponch wanted Steve sedated for at least seventy-two hours.

Three full days of uninterrupted healing and Danny was coming unglued at the half-way mark. Unable to focus on work and unwilling to leave the hospital, he stalked the halls. Though nothing was sensationalized or blown out of proportion, the newspaper article and its few black and white photographs hadn't helped matters.

More recently, even Chin had failed at calming Danny and now he'd walked angrily out of the ICU in a heated temper. Chin was due back soon, and Kono vowed that they would have Danny go home for a forced decompression of sorts. She easily knew that the mediation wasn't going to be pretty. Neither cousin understood that Danny was once again approaching a startling new revelation though.

Danny would make sure that Steve would get well .. that he would heal .. but then, Danny had an important personal decision to make. He left the ICU with that thought seated firmly in his achy head which he tried to clear in the still too bright sunshine. Instead, the brightness aggravated the headache and twisted his stomach. A lone female reporter had recognized and approached Danny where he had tried to sit quietly in the shade of a tree. Her overly excited attempt to get an update on the Commander's progress was not received well. His weary reply of _'no comment'_ and sudden desire to escape back into the building had surprised the woman and she'd immediately assumed the patient's condition even more dire.

Her pointed questions regarding Steve's health had irked Danny. He managed to repeat himself blandly enough even though he only wanted to snap angrily by the time he hit the sidewalk to the hospital's main entrance. "_He's recovering. He's fine. I have no other comments at this time."_

Skirting the elevators to bound up two steps at a time, he had left the reporter standing in the main lobby by taking the stairwell to the third floor. Grossly more moody, Danny returned less than thirty minutes later where both Chin and Kono were waiting for him just outside the ICU doors. By that time, Chin had been gone for almost four hours and was refreshed.

Danny, who had yet to leave the hospital grounds, was clearly not doing well.

The intervention was abrupt and this time, neither cousin would negotiate. Kono drove him home with promises to return after a few decent hours of sleep. And Danny did just do that after a stifling-hot shower and a change of clothes plus the added bonus of a meltdown of sorts.

"Five-0 Officer Gravely Injured. Suspect Dies."

The headline wouldn't leave his mind and Danny surged to his feet minutes after laying down with the terrible realization that his partner had truly almost killed himself. Only Doctor Ramirez had remained level-headed enough as time progressed and Steve continued to heal to his satisfaction. He sat on the edge of his bed as he ran his hands tiredly through his hair. He'd gotten too close to his partner and it was affecting his job and ability to make a decision objectively.

"You know what? This isn't going to happen, again. Never. Just .. _never_." He repeated what he had stated earlier while standing over the hospital bed. He almost felt vindicated .. _almost_ because of his sadly deceased, former partners: Grace Tilwell and Meka Hanamoa. Almost but not quite. The words were hollow and he felt empty after saying them which he blamed on not believing Steve could ever change. The article had been short and noteworthy because the SEAL did noteworthy, noble acts. It was all part of Steve's very nature and Danny almost threw his hands up in the air.

"Gravely injured?" In his fatigue, emotions skyrocketed again as he angrily said the words. Noteworthy and noble didn't have to come with a non-refundable price tag for either of them. With that, Danny lunged forward to send his fist painfully into the wall of his bedroom. The shallow dent creased by a few spidery veins of white chalk was immediate.

Danny didn't want to be _done_ or finished or even change himself, but he needed to figure out his best options. More than the injuries lurked in his mind; it was the knowledge of what would happen after the physical healing. Steve's 'normal' would happen and Danny wasn't sure he could cope anymore. For his own sanity, he needed to take a step back to regain his professional perspective. The decision calmed him though he still didn't feel entirely satisfied.

The stinging ache got his attention when he accidentally touched the sheets. Looking down, he saw that he had cracked the skin across two knuckles which only made his tension headache flare relentlessly.

"Nice move." He complained to himself before struggling to his feet for the bathroom. A few bandages later with two pain killers for the ache that had settled between his eyes, and he was ready to try to lay down once more. Danny fell into his bed and didn't move for an entire six-hour block of time even though he continually had visions of a falling dark blue shape against a lighter sky.

Hours later, Kono returned to pick him up and while she glanced at the few bandages on his knuckles, she didn't question him. The time ate up a blessedly good portion of the count-down to Doctor Ramirez's imposed major hurdle and that in itself was a blessing. A full day remained for the sedation to be lessened enough for Steve to be possibly removed from the ventilator.

"You didn't miss a thing. Doc checked in a few minutes ago and he's doing well. He removed the chest drains and he's on track for taking Steve off the ventilator." Chin vowed to both Kono and Danny upon their return. As if to prove a point, he pulled his keys from his pocket. "Now that you're both here and things are good, I'll be back in a few myself."

"Alright." Having half-expected to find a miracle waiting, Danny remained a bit somber as Chin left and he wandered over to the bed as if to confirm the man's words.

"Obstinate." It was whispered and hardly audible but Kono heard him. He wasn't sure if he meant Steve's obdurate nature or if he was pleading with him to be obstinate now so he would simply get well.

"He's going to be okay. Doc said so .. Steve is going to be totally fine." They seemed to have jumped a few letters since she had last sat with him. However Kono believed what she said wholeheartedly even though Danny refused to answer. With nothing to do but wait, she picked up Steve's hand and tried to communicate their return the only way possible.

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	6. Chapter 6

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes: **I have no idea where the next bit came from. Cervantes anyone? And all I ever think about with Sancho Panza is his darn little mule, his tubby little body, and how he so willingly trotted on his Rucio after Don Quixote and his horse, Rosinante. Yup - that's my visual. Not exactly Danny .. but well .. you probably get the concept!

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O***

**Chapter Six: Letters P through R, and then some S and T**

Kono rubbed her face before twisting her long hair into a messy knot. She had managed to sleep, but not as well as she'd hoped. Now, it was starting to rain and the sound on the window almost made her want to go back to bed. Her time awake had helped her think up some new words in the alphabet though, so she started in on the game as soon as Danny stopped his pacing.

"You look better, Danny." He did for the reluctant amount of rest, hot shower and change of clothes. He was definitely more engaged and much less volatile as he huffed a knowing sound in her direction. She was smiling coyly at him though, and he couldn't help the wry chuckle as he slumped into a chair. He was in a better frame of mind and willing to pick up where they had left off, but Kono would go first.

"Okay. So, tell me what you have."

"Proficient, quick and resilient." Danny's mouth gaped open and his chuckle returned with a bit more of a commitment.

"You used a dictionary or at least Googled all of that."

"I didn't!" Kono was indignant at the idea. "I absolutely did not! What did you come up with?"

He actually hadn't even tried to think of anything. In a state of exhaustion, Danny had finally fallen into a blessedly dreamless sleep and then hadn't even tried to think of anything once Kono had picked him up to return to the hospital. His mind was mostly empty and he was trying to keep it that way.

"Nothing. Quixotic, maybe."

"Quicks?" Kono's face instantly fell blank. "Quick ... what?"

"Quixotic. It means .. oh never mind." Rather than explaining it, Danny tried to change the topic as he went back to mulling her choices. "It doesn't matter, you're right."

"Oh no! You have to give me a clue on that weird word!" Danny sighed before rolling his eyes and trying to describe what he meant to her.

"Like Don Quixote ... he exemplifies being unrealistic and impractical." Kono seemed to have no idea what Danny was getting at as she continued to stare at him with a lost expression. In turn, he looked at her in utter disbelief because he couldn't quite believe that Kono had no idea of the classic or at least some part of it.

"Dream the impossible dream? Tilting at windmills? Man of LaMancha? The Quest?" There was still nothing, literally zero emotion on Kono's face and Danny was nearly beside himself. Turning partly in the chair, he looked at her straight in the eye.

"Seriously? Do you EVER get out?"

"Shut up, Danny." His honestly stunned reaction finally made her defensive and Kono glared back at him. "I surfed a lot."

"Uh huh. Frank Sinatra maybe?" She stuck her tongue out at that and Danny shook his head in total disgust before trying one more way to explain what he meant. "He goes on these crazy, impractical missions using even more crazy, impossible methods. How does delusional strike you?"

"It doesn't actually." Her eyes were dancing with laughter as his hands waved wildly through the air. However, Danny began to wonder how ignorant Kono really was of the Cervantes classic when she asked her next question. "So, this Don ... whatever ... did he have a side-kick?"

"What? Why .. no." Leery of her question, Danny set his jaw stubbornly before shaking his head in denial. There was no way on earth he would mention Sancho Panza. "Nope. He worked alone."

Her lips twitched again before she bit her tongue to keep from laughing as he neatly changed the subject back to accept her first choices.

"Like I said before, yours are fine." Steve was all those things Kono counted off, and he especially needed to be resilient that very moment. Nearly four days would pass before the man would move again .. be _allowed_ to move by doctors who knew better.

Recovery would be closely monitored and exceedingly slow as those same doctors teamed to ensure nothing happened. His face must have shown some of the old rising concern because Kono got up to give Danny a very spontaneous hug.

"He's going to be fine." She was as committed to that statement as the first time she uttered it but she sensed Danny needed to hear it again. "He will be, Danny. He's going to be back on his feet in no time."

He could only nod into her shoulder as he looked at Steve's much too passive face and followed the leads to the heart monitor. According to Ponch, his breath sounds were better too. So much so, that he had already removed the chest drains. It proved that things were improving, but so much more could still be wrong.

"Kono. He needs .. there's just so much." Suddenly sounding hoarse, he gestured emphatically towards the bed and then the heart monitor. "So much .. more. There could be long term damage to his heart muscle and then there's his lungs."

He knew that Steve would call him sensitive, even hyper-sensitive at that. That trait was his very nature because Danny simply did care too much.

_"Therein lies my problem."_ Danny thought privately. He had gotten too close to his co-workers and especially Steve. In his desperation to find a family after a tragic divorce and a life-changing move, he had allowed himself to get much too close to the people he should have maintained a distant, professional relationship with. He stared at Steve, listened to the vent's static noise, and shook his head. What Ponch had described was a life threatening reality and Danny was honestly quite scared to lose another partner. This one, to his own dramatic form of negligence.

"If any of this is chronic, his career is over. He's done and Steve won't be able to live like that." Danny finally said what was most preying on his mind. He went to that dismal, ridiculously dark place and voiced his biggest fear.

It made him sick to think about it and it was obviously something that Kono hadn't considered. At least not in depth. Her mind hadn't gone that far down the path which Doctor Ramirez had tentatively started to sketch for them. But Danny had and now that he had found the courage to say it, he found the worry oppressive.

"He's too young and much too strong for that to be the case." She argued and her eyes flashed in anger at the thought. "Doc Ramirez is very pleased with how he's progressing."

"We're sitting here in ICU. Steve jumped out of a two-story window, Kono. Ramirez is happy but he's still cautious." Danny leveled her with an ominous stare.

"He intentionally _jumped_ and fell .. he's practically destroyed his chest and he's on a ventilator. A machine to help him breathe, Kono, because of significant internal damage." He didn't mean to be so severe or to nearly parrot what Ramirez had told them and he instantly regretted it as Kono's eyes welled with tears.

"I'm sorry." Danny whispered as hung his head between his knees and covered his face with both hands. "We don't know enough yet and neither do the doctors, so forget what I said."

_"Why didn't you stop .. five seconds .. and just think?" _The angry question flashed across his mind as he dismally heard Kono take in a ragged breath. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I said all of that. We don't need to go there."

"Because it's true." Kono whispered tearfully. "But it's not going to happen like that. It wouldn't be fair to Steve and Doctor Ramirez says he's getting better."

He didn't yet entirely believe it as he nodded and Kono dragged her chair to sit next to him. Knee to knee, they sat there quietly. Danny abstractly smoothed down the tape on one knuckle bandage. Seconds later he was still staring at his hands as if they weren't his own while the name _Super SEAL_ ran through his head.

_"Stupid. Stupid man." _But he said something else automatically.

"Selfless." At the expense of his own well-being, Steve was perfectly selfless and Kono closed her eyes as way of agreement. She felt Danny shift uncomfortably in his own seat and then heard the inhale before he offered another word.

"Tenacious." She snorted at that and tried to smile before rocking hard into Danny's shoulder to add another.

"Quixotic was better. This is a good one, but I still got something better. Trouble. Plain and simple." He forced a smile out while continuing to look at his hands.

"Yup, that's about right. Plain and simple." Danny lurched to his feet to lean over the bedrail. Steve's face was buried by the ventilator and the worst scratches were covered by small bandages. There was a small bruise by the tiny stitches in the lid of his eye. The whoosh of the machine was embedded in Danny's hearing and he had heard it echoing in his memory while in his empty apartment.

The sound wouldn't quite leave him as Steve's chest artificially rose up and then fell down. But now, they only had a few hours to go and Kono was right. It wouldn't be fair. Danny toyed with the edge of the blanket before sitting back down and seconding her comments.

"Trouble, Steven. You are one helluva trouble magnet. Plain and simple."

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	7. Chapter 7

** I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes: **as usual, the typical "not a doctor caveats' apply. I read a ton of different things about ventilators and how someone may or may not come off one. A bunch of things have been adapted to hopefully make sense, but it's fiction folks. And while I did my best, much is contrived.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O***

**Chapter Seven: Letters U and V**

They were all there when the doctors finally decided to lessen the sedation and wean Steve off the mechanical aspect of the ventilator to see if he'd naturally pick up the rhythm of breathing on his own. According to Ponch, it could take up to two or even three hours for Steve to fully awaken and then they would judge his continued ability to breathe and maintain adequate levels of oxygenation. If all went well, the vent would be removed permanently.

The process took but a few minutes for the cadence of the ventilator to be staggered and then halted entirely. For a startling few seconds nothing happened and the team looked worriedly to the doctors who merely waited. A few long seconds later and Steve compensated by self-starting natural breaths.

As usual, Steve was then wholly unpredictable and he surprised everyone - except maybe for Danny who had refused to go farther than five feet away from the bed. He looked at Kono and held up two fingers much to her chagrin.

"I called it. Unpredictable and versatile." Chin raised his eyebrows as he looked from Kono to Danny.

"What are you talking about?" Neither answered him though and secretly, Danny was far from choosing versatile though it fit. His fretful mind in his anger had vacillated between vengeful and violent to a sudden feeling of guilt to select valor. But with another rise in his hope as the doctors stood watch over his friend and the sedation was removed and the ventilator completely turned off, Danny was swayed yet again to his initial and more gentle choice.

"Hey, buddy." Steve moved, frowned and then slightly turned his head towards his voice. With that, Danny grabbed for the hand that was weakly starting to move upwards towards the tubes that remained in his mouth. "Doc? Now what? He's coming around pretty fast."

Impressed by the startlingly quick return to consciousness, Ramirez nodded. "Talk to him. He's waking and will undoubtedly have trouble with the feeling of the tube but I want him more aware."

Steve found that climbing out of the depths towards the gentle murmur of sound was suddenly easier. His ability to latch onto the warmth that radiated into his hand was returned with a genuine feeling of relief. But the lethargic coldness still made him feel heavy and uncomfortable and with a pang of real fear, Steve realized that something was almost impeding his breathing.

He dimly fought the feeling because he obviously was breathing and his hand reflexively spasmed around Danny's. Sound became words and he actually heard then the calm but very snarky demand that he relax and listen ... _for a change_.

"Welcome back. Once again you've managed to scare me half to death." Danny was whispering and obviously smiling in relief, but there was a certain tolerant tone in his voice.

"No kidding." The disgusted sound from Chin seconded that for the entire team so Danny amended his words.

"Actually .. yeah you just about scared all of us. Thank you for that. Though you managed to do your swan dive directly for my personal benefit." It was a lot to say and Danny hung his head before taking a deep breath to settle himself. Ponch had an odd and almost bewildered smile of his own on his face as he watched Danny take another deep breath and expected yet another short tirade. But Danny could feel the tremor beginning when he saw the plaintive swallow followed by an immediate gag reflex.

"Easy, big guy. Steve, you're on a vent to breathe .. try not to go crazy .. Doc is going to take it out once he's sure you're ready."

"_Danny_." He heard most of it but understood little. Something was wrong. There was something very much off with the world. He couldn't wrap his head around some of the words as he purely reacted to how he was feeling. _"Hurt .. sick." _He hurt for one and that was a surprise after feeling nothing more than leaden weight. He tried to form a word and then choked as he forgot that he was in fact already breathing. He hummed deep in his throat and struggled to open heavy eyes that refused to cooperate.

"Steve, listen to me." He tried. Steve gave it a gallant effort as he inhaled, tried to swallow and choked again only to hear Danny curse in frustration. He felt Kono nearby and the Chin offering the same support as Danny. But the pressure was overwhelming and Steve arched his neck painfully into the bed before tossing his head. Steve's rising tension clearly was absorbed by Danny as he quickly reprimanded him about moving. "Hey! What did I just say about listening?"

"Doc? He's starting to panic." He heard Danny's voice again and a then a louder more commanding one and though he dug into Danny's hand, Steve stilled instantly out of habit.

"Commander, at ease." Doctor Ramirez's own large hand was now firmly holding Steve's forehead in place. He could also feel the tell-tale signs of panic beginning through the subtle tremor.

"Listen to me closely. You are breathing and not you're not in trouble." Doc Ramirez was used to dealing with military men and women. The stern tone that he adopted halted the pending panic as Steve almost strangled Danny's hand.

"You can breathe. Relax. It's coming out." Eyes wedged closed, Steve's face remained lined with stress but he realized that Ponch was right. It was only the constrictive feeling and tight gagging that was causing him the most distress.

"On my mark of three, inhale and simply breathe out through your mouth." A tear leaked out as he fought the urge to choke and cough prematurely. Steve relied on Danny as he weakly readjusted his grip and then forced himself to squeeze his friend's hand.

"He's good. He's ready when you are." Steve heard the encouragement in Danny's voice as the strong, steady pressure was returned.

"On three, Commander. One, two, ready to inhale." Ponch reminded him and then issued the requisite number three. "Now exhale nice and long for me."

He barely registered what he might do to his partner's hand as his chest heaved and he gagged out a fairly long exhale. The obstruction was instantly gone and he was left with a weak, straggly cough but not much of an improvement when it came to the heaviness that remained in his chest and a dull ache in his side.

"Danno?" Steve blinked through the onset of tears brought on by a scratchy, dry throat and barely made out Danny's face and then that of Doctor Ramirez. He was flat out on his back without even a pillow, and seeing anyone or anything else was out of the question.

"Hap..pnd?" He swallowed hard and winced which earned him nothing more than a piece of ice. "I'm .. good." The weak words evidently meant nothing to anyone in the room since Danny rolled his eyes before staring in blatant disgust at the cousins.

"Look. He's fine." Danny muttered sarcastically as he aimed another pointed look at Chin who was in charge of the occasional piece of ice. Muttering something unintelligible under his breath, Chin had nothing much to say either. The doctor completely ignored Steve too as he went about his job triple checking his vitals and readings.

By the third sliver of ice, Steve tried again to find his voice and succeeded with a few more words. "So .. what happened?"

"You tried to fly." Steve gazed up at Danny with a confused expression. He heard Kono laugh in relief somewhere down by his feet as Danny peered into his face with a sarcastic grin. "But you left your cape at home so it was an epic fail. You and I will be discussing this penchant of yours in detail."

"What?" Steve furrowed his brow in confusion and as more of his vision cleared he noticed the doctor assessing his overall awareness level. He was bewildered though and already catching his partner's odd underlying tone. Anger? Aggravation? Disgust? Steve wasn't sure and it could have been all three emotions for all he could figure out in his beleaguered brain, but he certainly didn't remember being in a plane.

"Fly? Did ... we ... go some .. where?" Coughing and then wheezing, Steve rubbed his forehead with shaky fingers.

"Forget it for now." Danny patted his hand soothingly as Steve tried to remember what had happened. "Don't worry about it. You're going to be fine with a few more days rest."

"Weeks." Ponch muttered under his breath. Steve hesitated and then blinked at him in alarm. He still distinctly remembered the black spiral and he shuddered enough for Danny to grab his hand again.

"What's wrong? What hurts?" He was in distress but Danny wasn't sure if it was actually pain or lack of memory until Steve managed to clarify it.

"I ..fell. Dark. Dizzy."

"Yeah, you did and unfortunately, it was not like Superman at all. Not even close. In fact like I said .. it was an epic fail." Danny punctuated each word with his hands demonstrating an ever-widening distance of grand proportions over Steve's bed which made the recovering man raise his eyebrows in surprise.

"A - Huge - Epic - Fail."

"What?" Kono began to chuckle as Steve only blinked at his partner. It was obvious he was still dizzy and not entirely caught up on events regardless of what anyone was saying.

"But you're going to be okay .. in time." Danny glanced to Ramirez who made a face but didn't seem to be overly concerned about his patient's sketchy memory as he rechecked Steve's readings. Determined to remain awake, Steve was blinking his eyes furiously and continually trying to focus on everyone in the room. Kono and Chin moved closer to help him out and he relaxed even more when he saw them.

"Hey boss!" Kono was thrilled and Chin was pleased as Ramirez confirmed Steve was doing well. "Just do what Doc says for now and take it easy."

"He's fine; his vital signs are essentially stable. His blood pressure is a bit elevated and we're going to keep him on full oxygen to help his levels stay up. Dizziness and general confusion are to be expected." Ponch leaned back over and slipped the mask over Steve's nose and mouth. The complaint was softly spoken as the doctor gently refused him.

"No, it stays on. You're doing fine, Commander. Don't try to talk just yet .. relax and stay calm. Focus on slow, steady breathing."

Steve was exceedingly tired but his brain was slowly starting to re-engage. He still wasn't sure what had happened but he could feel Danny's concern and alarming personal brand of aggravation, plus Chin's bolstering presence and Kono's steady, quiet hand which was now on his arm. Try as he might, he couldn't stay awake for them though. With Ponch encouraging him to rest, Steve's eyes fought to stay open only briefly. He murmured his uneasiness about the void, but he was gently shushed and reminded that he could sleep.

Danny was standing over the bed when he drifted off so quickly. Placing Steve's hand under the light sheet, he turned on the doctor. "Well? How's he really doing?"

The curt demand was clear and Ponch spared them nothing. "He's over the first hurdle but there will be more. He'll be in the ICU for at least another two or three days so we can monitor his progress. Expect him in the hospital at least another seven days after that."

"That's a long time. Almost three weeks total." Kono whispered worriedly. "Why so long?" With the Commander waking, the doctor knew that his problems with the team would only worsen so he laid the law down early.

"Find a way to rotate and do so quietly. I can't condone all of you here at every hour of the day or night. He needs a great deal of rest and too much talking or excitement is going to be decidedly counter-productive to the Commander's recovery." Meticulously checking each and every line, every remaining machine and bandage, Ponch reassured himself and the team that Steve was indeed doing well.

"I suggest you figure it out now. He's going to be sleeping often." Tapping his watch, Ponch's point was obvious and each frowned unhappily. He looked at Danny the longest who finally held both hands up in submission. Reading the reaction incorrectly, Ponch made his point even more clear about all of them remaining in the ICU. Shoving his hands back into his pockets, he used his head to gesture to the door to clearly indicate one, two or even all three of them could leave and go home for a while.

"You're smart people, I'm sure you can do it. Figure it out. Now."

Then he was gone and the three were left staring at each other. Danny eyed Steve's new look with a bit more peace. The overwhelming sound of the ventilator was already an aging echo. He was relieved to see more of Steve's face under a basic and much more benign oxygen mask. Without the sedation, even his friend's sleep was more natural.

"I've got it." The words were out of his mouth before he could think. Pausing for a a second, Danny realized he needed air or at least some time outside of the stifling confines of the ward. It made sense on many levels and he repeated himself with a reassuring glance now to Kono and then Chin.

"Alright. Yeah, I'll go first." Chin was stunned when Danny raised his hand, turned quickly from the bed, and gathered his things to leave the hospital room.

"Call me .. if something changes. I'll probably be at my place. Or maybe I'll swing by the office." The cousins watched him go and then stared at each other in confusion. Danny didn't offer anything else as he all but bolted from the hospital room.

"What was that about? He just left? No argument?" Kono asked as Chin heaved out a heavy sigh. Though not exactly angry, Danny was upset once more and still very tense. He was distancing himself just a bit as Steve pulled himself forward to heal; Chin was confident that time would heal them both. Danny's was a fairly normal reaction and Chin wasn't overly worried by the man's need for some healthy distractions to clear his head. He said as much to Kono after suggesting that she actually leave too, to take a longer break for herself.

"He'll be fine. Danny just needs some space now that things are looking up." It sounded right and Chin was confident in what he was recognizing. With a short huff, he pointed to Steve to include him before his cousin left as suggested. "And ... when he gets better, Steve needs to think a little bit more."

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	8. Chapter 8

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes: **The weekend (Sunday) got a bit away from me. Sorry for not responding back to messages - I will try and correct that today and tomorrow! Thank you for the continuing great comments!

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O***

**Chapter Eight: Letters W - Z**

Danny escaped down the short hallway of the ICU almost on Doctor Ramirez's heels. But where Ramirez took a sharp right hand turn for his office, Danny strode quickly though what should have been a confusing maze of divergent hallways and out the front door of the hospital. He came to a stop next to his car before briefly fumbling for his keys and hiding behind the wheel. It didn't matter that the car was hot or that he was drenched in sweat inside of seconds. He sat there motionless for a long time in the comforting silence trying to decide what to do.

He stared at the front of the hospital and then watched people coming and going about their business. He couldn't deny that he was still mad at Steve. His friend had weeks yet to go before he might be allowed to return to work. _Weeks_ to prove that his heart and lungs were indeed fine and blemish-free. Danny was aggravated as he looked at the bright sky. Clouds were building again in the distance to compete with the sun and he could tell it would shower within the hour. It was getting windy, the clouds were moving fast, so the rain would amount to nothing more than a short downpour. It would probably do nothing for the humidity except make it worse. A bit unwilling to leave or go back to his apartment, Danny almost grudgingly turned the ignition just enough to roll down the windows. The strong puff of cooler air brought the scent of rain on his nose and it was instantly refreshing as he leaned back into the seat with his eyes closed.

"Now what." Danny sighed as he delayed making any one of a few dull choices before pulling out his cell phone which had been on silent mode in the confines of the ICU. He actually hadn't looked at in hours since Ramirez confirmed the timing for the next major event in Steve's recovery.

The last call he'd missed was from Governor Denning and he obediently listened to the message and took a chance on calling him back though the hour was becoming late. As luck would have it, the Governor was available and immediately interested in how Steve was doing. After assuring the Governor of his ever-improving health, Danny's own job made his decision for him as he mentally filed away new urgent details related to a high-profile case that the Governor wanted worked jointly with other official departments.

Danny would bring his able team-mates up to speed the next morning, but until that time, he continued to sit in his car while making a few calls. First to the FBI and then to HPD to request meetings and as much of the open file records as they currently had on hand. He was relieved for the renewed focus as he drove to his office to begin lining up the facts surrounding their next case. He stayed there for hours until his peers' offices closed for the day and no one else was feasibly available to speak with him.

Feeling genuinely tired, Danny locked up and went directly home to tumble into bed for a long, dreamless sleep. His rest was completely undisturbed and he woke towards dawn with plans to at least poke his head back into the ICU at TAMC before starting the work day. Danny's moderate mood began to weigh heavily as he parked his car in the lot. Each step back into the hospital and then through the ICU doors felt torturous though he knew Steve was improving.

Work and a decent night's sleep had helped but now, the antiseptic smells and this other reality came back much too quickly. His temper lurked as he said good morning to the older strict nurse who had argued with him so much and was once again on duty. He was in the ICU well before actual posted visiting hours, but she only smiled briefly before heading towards the main station.

"Hey, Kono. Good morning." He arrived in the room to find only Kono settled comfortably in a chair with her own steaming cup of coffee and Danny looked at her curiously.

"Chin and I went full round robin. But everything's fine." Refusing to rise to any bait as to why Danny had been gone so long, Kono was whispering in a very low voice. "I just got here too. Chin went home during the over-night hours after Steve woke briefly. He's doing great. The doctors are happy."

"Good. That's good news. What are you up to?" Kono was sitting quietly with her feet up on the edge of the bed juggling both her coffee and the same old magazine. Some notes were penned in the corner of the page and when he asked, she laughed softly about continuing the game.

"We're almost done, so I came up with the last few words." Making a funny face as she waited for his reaction, she threw out her next guesses. "W. Weapons-master."

"What is that? It sounds like a video game." She was right as Danny mocked her choice with a temperamental smile before drawling it out again. He mimicked her low whisper to not disturb Steve. "Weapons-_master_? Really, Kono."

"It fits." She insisted. "He's a warrior." At that, Danny rolled his eyes tolerantly towards the ceiling.

"No, Mister Guns _Loves_ Ammo is only certifiably wacked. Coo-Coo .. lost his marbles." He made a round and round motion with one finger by this temple. The more Danny dwelled on the accident, the worse he felt and his anger sparked threateningly below the surface.

Not noticing his rising irritation, Kono grinned impishly before offering up another. "Yummy." That got Danny to come to a shocked halt before he even made it to the side of the bed.

"No, definitely NOT that." She only shrugged with a coy smile before going back to idly turning the pages of the well-worn magazine.

"To each, his own. What have you got that's better?"

"Actually, nothing. Denning called and I worked last night. We have an important case which I need to bring you and Chin up-to-speed on sometime this morning or later today. We have meetings lined up with both HPD and the FBI; I need your help." Kono frowned at his seriousness and then that he had truly worked late that prior evening. However, she wouldn't let him change the subject so quickly.

"Okay, but we have time for work since it's barely seventy-thirty in the morning! Come on, what do you have? We're almost done." Her challenge went unanswered. For a long time. Completely unanswered as a multitude of unintelligible complaints reached her ears from across the room. It was obvious that Danny had no interest in finishing the game out; he was only persisting now for her sake. She could have guessed what Danny would say as his face became pensive.

"Yahoo. He's a wacked-out _yahoo_ of a Navy SEAL with zero sense in that bulldog-head of his." Danny made a rough noise in his throat when Ramirez's comment of Steve needing _weeks to heal_ rang in his ears.

Kono tried to laugh him off but he was serious again and knuckling the foot board while staring at the heart monitor and then at the sleeping man. "Maybe to you but I'm sticking with yummy."

"Fine. Have at it." Danny wasn't relenting entirely but Kono managed to help him find a tiny smile.

"Oh, I just did! But give me one more, Danny, and then we're done. Zero doesn't count - and I honestly had nothing for the letter Z." She could tell that it was taking a great deal of effort on his part. Even with Steve slowly getting better now, something was up with Danny and she hoped she could blame it on the case he'd mentioned.

His final choice came out in an odd way and she realized what Chin had already guessed. Danny still needed space and was resentful about Steve's occasional spontaneous methods. Seeing his partner bedridden once more had rankled his mood. Kono finally realized that Danny was scarily bad-tempered as he came up with the last word or two in their originally benign little game.

"He'd better change his damned zebra stripes. I'm tired of working in his not-so, benevolent zoo."

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	9. Chapter 9

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes: **reference below to episode 2×16 "I Helu Pu" which featured Steve's spectacular roof tackle of a groomsman to a lower balcony; followed by getting ploughed into by a car when chasing the Russian murder suspect. TWO death-defying transgressions in one episode! I fixed the Vonokov error as my sources were yet again incorrect - I found online that the character had died - so I will simply have to re-watch any episode I personally refer to! Such a shame (NOT)!

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O***

**Chapter Nine**

"Where's Danny this time?" Two weeks had passed since he'd been released from the hospital and Steve was sitting on his lanai with Chin. In just over fourteen days, Chin knew that Danny had actually been to Steve's house only three times outside of one other visit when they were all together. The first was to drive Steve home from the hospital which didn't entirely count because it had been expected and part of their norm. But after that, things had begun to slightly deviate and change. Danny seemed to be more out of pocket and his next two visits were almost obligatory jaunts to make sure the man was taking care of himself early on in his recovery. Claiming he had urgent things to do, Danny hadn't stayed long and over subsequent days, his calls had eventually begun to dwindle.

During Steve's first few days at home, the change was barely noticeable. Still not feeling well, Steve slept often and fielded any number of other well-meaning visitors and phone calls. He also had follow-up doctor's appointments to attend and any number of other, bland distractions. However by the start of the second week, Steve finally did take notice.

"Is he working again? This case is a little much if he is. I thought it was wrapping up based on what Kono said yesterday." The case in question was the one the Governor had shared with Danny while he had sat in his car in the hospital lot. Because of his tenacity and long work hours with the FBI and HPD, Kono was correct in that it was essentially closed and a wrap.

Even so, it had taken longer than Chin had anticipated for Steve to realize that he was hearing less from his partner. He knew it was because Steve was surrounded by a never-ending tide of people from himself, Kono and Cath to Kamekona, Max and even the Governor. In fact, Chin had slowly come to realize that they were all seeing less and less of Danny outside of work.

Steve hadn't been clued even after he'd asked the team about what exactly had happened that day. It was one of the rare, last times the team had been congregating at Steve's upon his arrival home. Scarcely out of the hospital but a few days, Chin and Kono had patiently described their version. Danny's had been a bit more demonstrative with an enormous amount of sarcasm which Steve had almost found amusing. Each of their reactions to the other had been typical, but Danny had been more temperamental about allowing the team to calm him. Moving into Steve's second week at home, Danny had begged off the few lunches or after work get-togethers with any variety of excuses until even those waned regardless of both Chin and Kono's attendance. If Cath were there with Steve, he wouldn't show at all.

It was now nearing a late dinner time and Chin was sitting with Steve outside with just a few short hours before the sun decided to set. The grill was lit and the beer was readily available; something Steve was finally allowed to drink sparingly. He and Danny had been invited over to Steve's for a quick bite after work; but only Chin had arrived and Steve was beginning to finally take it personally.

"So, Chin? What's going on with Danny? Where is he tonight?"

Burying himself in work, Danny had slowly distanced himself from all of them over the last few weeks. He arrived early, skipped lunch or ate alone in his office and insisted upon staying late to close the office doors. He'd been so evasive, that Chin didn't know where he was that night either. He shrugged and took a long swallow of beer before answering truthfully. "He didn't call?"

Steve narrowed his eyes at his coming realization. He had gotten voicemail and Danny hadn't actually called him back that day. "No, I left him another message."

"I'm not sure. Maybe the gym. Maybe with Grace. Or, he could even be working late again. We have two things perking on the back burner." There was no need for deflection but Steve had finally noticed their missing friend was actually ... _missing_. While he might not know where he was, Chin knew precisely _why_ since Danny had spouted so angrily, days earlier, about _consequences_.

"Working .. or with Grace? Mid-week?" Steve was truly surprised at the two completely polar opposite reasons as he checked the time and waved his cell phone in the air. "You don't really know though? Maybe we should call him and make sure he's okay. See if he wants to swing by since I can call him now."

"No, he's fine. Leave it, Steve, and put your phone away." His tone was very abrupt and Steve frowned at what sounded suspiciously like an order or a warning. Looking out across the sand, Chin shifted in his chair and stretched his legs in front of him. He was about to go too far and there would be words shared that night which he couldn't take back. After the recent discussion with their friend though, Chin felt obligated to bring the issue to Steve's attention or the situation would only worsen each day.

With a deep breath, Chin ground out the truth without daring to look yet at Steve. "He'd be here if he wanted to be here."

The silence was almost painful as Steve moved sideways in his chair to get a better look at Chin. His mouth fell open in disbelief as he demanded more information.

"What?" The odd comment pulled Steve up short as he thumbed off his cell phone, dropped it in his lap, and then stared at Chin. "Did I hear that right? If he _wanted_ to be here? What's that supposed to be mean?"

It was tongue and cheek more times than not when Danny ranted about being put in danger by his partner. That wasn't the problem since truth be told, Danny could take care of himself. What he couldn't take care of or control was his errant, oftentimes spontaneous partner. The accident was still fresh and Danny wasn't interested in losing a third partner. '_One to his own crazed tendencies_' as Danny had so aptly put it to Chin that night.

_"Consequences, Chin. He's not alone .. he's not flying solo though god knows he just tried! I can't do it again .. he's .. I don't know." _They had been out together at a local bar and Danny had tied on a few out of frustration that was mounting the closer it got to a date where Steve could return to active duty.

Danny had admitted that he might not be able to do it anymore. "It" meaning be paired with Steve as a partner and Chin had been honestly stunned. _"Oh come on, Danny! You don't really mean that!"_

_"I do. I do because I see him fall every night. Every single night before I go to bed and then in my dreams. He falls and none of us are going to be able to pick up the pieces the day it finally happens and there are no pieces left. I'd like to think this was a wake-up call, but I'd be fooling myself."_

It was becoming both a trust and respect issue, as well and the accident was beginning to sound like the last straw of many. Danny had a remorseful and highly emotional memory of Meka and then had suddenly called it a night. Chin had been left sitting by himself at the bar with his head spinning from the unexpected admission. And as Chin asked his next question and gauged Steve's responses, he could see by Steve's response that Danny was absolutely correct.

"_Watching his back - wait no! - his six - is like trying to herd cats and I can't deal with the responsibility. There will be a day when I can't do my job because of his penchant for disaster._" Chin had laughed at the sarcasm, however Danny had not because Danny couldn't save Steve from himself.

Eye for eye, Chin cornered Steve now where they sat together outside. "What were you thinking when you jumped after that guy?"

It was a question that no one had thought to ask him directly, least of all Chin. But he asked it now and he expected a detailed answer. "I mean really, Steve. When you ran through the hotel room and that lunatic jumped through a plate-glass window and over a balcony wall ... what were you thinking when you followed him?"

The older man maintained his silence and waited the SEAL out. He waited through half a bottle of beer and then slammed the dark bottle down on the table when he couldn't wait any longer. "Well?"

"Is that what's wrong with him?" Chin was annoyed by the surprise laced into the question as he finally lost his own temper. He swore under his breath when Steve actually began to smile as if it were a joke.

"Him? Yes .. that's what's wrong with _him_. Really all of us, but _him_ the most." It wasn't as if Danny would consider leaving 5-0 .. Chin had reassured himself with that thought but he had recently begun to wonder if Danny had finally been pushed past his breaking point. Never that, but things were going to have change if the man decided to stay.

"I want to know what you were thinking." He demanded to know, and then wasn't surprised when Steve truly had no answer. "That's what I thought but I have to admit, I'm still surprised." Jaw clenched in a fury, Chin shook his head at the non-answer he received as he got up to leave.

"You come back to work in one day, Steve. One short day. Here are my friendly words of advice ... you better start thinking for all of our sakes."

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O***

Steve was stunned when Chin left on those not so subtle words. He found it hard to believe that his team could be so angry with him, but most of all Danny. He was doing his job exactly the way he always did. So what was the big deal all of a sudden?

Leaning over his kitchen counter, he closed his eyes and tried to digest what exactly it was Chin was saying. Danny had been reserved of late; reserved and overly quiet. It was true that he hadn't seen him very much; in fact, Steve realized that many of his last voicemails had yet to be returned.

"Voicemail." Steve frowned more deeply as he racked his brain for the last time he'd verbally spoken to Danny in person. He hadn't even realized he should have questioned that the other day. Danny was calling at the odd hour when Steve would likely not be available to answer his phone. Evidently, he should have questioned that subtle nuance as well because once again, that day's call had also gone to Danny's voicemail. Steve hadn't thought he was being ignored or avoided until that very moment. Danny had blamed his hectic schedule on case work and Steve had readily accepted the excuse, but Chin was saying it was more than that.

_ "What were you thinking when you jumped after that guy?" _

Steve growled out a sound deep in his throat and then shrugged lamely to himself. He hadn't thought about anything except doing this job. Find the bad guy - bad guy runs - chase and bring him down.

Could he really be so base? The answer was obviously a resounding yes because he was physical person, trained to react and thus, only doing his job. With a bit of remorse, Steve recalled a similar issue that had set his partner completely off ... and he'd done no less than two horrific moves in Danny's eyes that time. His unprecedented dive off a roof top to tackle a distraught groomsman. Followed by being hit by a car as he chased Dmitri Vonokov down.

_ "What? Are you going to tell me the balcony wasn't enough of an adrenalin rush for you? You had to go and do one better with a car, Steven! What happened to looking both ways before crossing a street?"_ Both he and Vonokov had been injured, though Steve had gotten off extremely lucky according to the doctors.

He'd shaved years off Danny's life both times .. of that Steve was certain based on the four-day binge rant he'd received at the drop of a hat. Evidently, Steve on a backboard with a neck-brace did nothing for his partner's blood pressure. Still, Steve had made light of it and thought that Danny also had ... however now, it most definitely wasn't the case.

_"What were you thinking when you jumped after that guy?"_ Actually, Steve hadn't thought much at all. Just like he hadn't thought about the roof top incident or considered his blind haste in chasing down Vonokov.

"Damn it, Danny." He habitually rubbed his chest where a dull ache sometimes crept in after a long day and he'd already suffered through one of his last therapy sessions that afternoon. Cleared to work but promising to take things easy, Steve would rejoin his team in a day's time. His personal gut-instinct was to be annoyed that Danny was being overly sensitive and obviously still on edge.

There was another key difference though - Steve hadn't been read the riot act. Not once as with every, other time. And if comparing to the past, Danny was very late about being in Steve's face.

_"What were you thinking when you jumped after that guy?" _Danny wasn't the only one perturbed with him now though and Steve shook his head as he continually tried to deny that he'd been entirely wrong. Chin was much different, but the man was almost equally put out about what he'd done. There was no doubt that Kono would also be feeling some level of similar emotion.

So Danny hadn't just been busy and immersing himself in work, he had been avoiding him. According to Chin, he was avoiding the social aspects with his other team members too. Purposefully limiting their interaction and focusing solely on work related conversations and professional concerns.

Worried now that he'd accidentally created a situation and one that he might not be able to repair, Steve got ready for bed continually mulling over Chin's advice.

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	10. Chapter 10

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes: **Xenogenetic: the supposed production of an individual completely different from either of its parents

We're batting a thousand this year with issues! Mom fell twice this weekend and has a concussion. I have more tests to make sure I'm "miraculously cured". Mom is 82 and will be okay; but I'm taking her to the doctor today. Then I am going tonight and tomorrow to the hospital for my (hopefully final) tests.

This all means: the next chapter after this one will probably be issued on Friday. :-) you knew I'd say that, didn't you? :-)

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O***

**Chapter Ten**

"Yo, brah .. we missed a letter. Though I have to admit, I've got no suggestions for it." It was Wednesday morning and Kono was goading Danny in the break room as he poured what was already his third cup of coffee. She had two boxes of pastries in hand to welcome Steve back to work and she was balancing one on top of the other hoping he'd notice. When Danny didn't even turn around though, she was positive that he'd missed her comment entirely.

"Danny? You in there?"

His eyes were tired and far away when he faced her, and she frowned back at his unhappy expression. "Kono, it's old and he's coming back today. I'd rather not deal with it anymore."

She studied his weary face but then saw this extremely tidy, impeccable attire. "You're wearing a tie and a really nice dress shirt, brah." Kono blurted it out before she could think of anything else to say.

"I thought you only did that last week for the final debriefing with Dawson at the FBI offices."

"Guess again." Danny commented dryly as he tried to sneak past her to return to his desk, but Kono smirked as she danced in time to block his moves. "I like my ties; I found out that I miss them, and it's about time I did what I wanted to do around here."

"Fine. Okay." She gave in much too quickly to his almost defensive remark as she balanced the boxes and refused to allow him to leave. "But we left out letter X and with Steve coming back to work today, I thought we could finish it up quickly before he got here."

He could only stand and stare at the young woman blankly. Kono refused to move out of his way and the cup was getting hotter, forcing Danny to switch hands as she intentionally delayed his escape. With no where to go, Danny thought hard for a minute and lifted one eyebrow in success.

"He's xenogenetic." Danny pursed his lips, nodded to himself with satisfaction and then shrugged to approve his final choice. "Yeah, that works. I unfortunately never got to meet his father, but I doubt the man had Steve's utter disregard for personal safety. So unless Chin proves me wrong, Steve's xenogenetic; especially if you compare him to Doris, which I guess is a compliment for him. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some work to do."

"Doris .. what? But. _But_!" Kono's eyes widened in surprise as he brushed past her with a queer smile on his face. She continued to stammer in confusion while catching the soft tail-end of a pleased chuckle.

"But .. wait, Danny! What does that mean?"

** H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O***

"Welcome back, boss!" Kono had the malasadas and a card waiting for Steve when he got to his office a short time later. The three were waiting for him with open arms for the most part; only Danny was more reticent than usual. After nearly a month, Danny was undoubtedly pleased to see Steve firmly back on his feet and in his element, but there definitely was a marked difference in the Detective.

First as Kono had noticed, the tie was back. Steve did a double-take before trying to make light of it. He could feel the odd tension creeping in especially as Chin tried to convey his earlier message with a certain, distinctive look.

"What's with the noose?" With a bright laugh, Steve flapped the tie arrogantly under Danny's own nose and ignored the missing smile in return. What he next noticed was the lack of color in his friend's face along with a cheerlessness he hadn't seen in quite some time.

Then there was a distant coldness as Danny smoothed his tie back down. "Professional protocol."

With a glance towards Kono, Steve refused to take the comment any further but saw that her eyes were not exactly happy with certain changes. Danny motioned to each of their offices as he swiped a bulky file and tablet from the smart table. The action cut the festivities short, causing both cousins to awkwardly return to their own work sooner than they would have preferred.

"Mine or yours? I know it's your first day back and a short work week for you, but I've got a few things going that you should be brought up to speed on." Steve sat quietly in his partner's office as Danny waxed on about the details behind both the current open and closed cases. He dutifully returned to his office when they were finished to find the neatly stacked and labeled folders that Danny had prepared for him. Each clearly described as his copies for his own files and personal review.

Danny bit back the sigh as he watched Steve and then went back to focusing on the higher priority Vernon homicide which he had neatly taken over as his own. It was proving to be a complex case and he welcomed its strange mix of clues, unknown victims, and confusing details. Then he timed his departure from the office perfectly and just before lunch to avoid an obligatory social session.

"Where are you going?" Steve was on the prowl though as he too, noticed the time; made worse by not being made victim to the long-overdo dressing down he'd expected. At 11:30, after what Chin had said about Danny's recent behavior, the ploy was at least obvious to him.

"Records. I need to pull a few old files that I believe are related to the Vernon situation."

"Now? You need to do this now?" Without responding, Danny stood rock solid in the hallway with car keys in hand. It was the truth because Michael Jameson, the apartment owner's son, had been questioned in a seemingly unrelated and yet still unsolved dock-side murder from 16-months earlier. He wanted to see the files and any collected tangible evidence before the case became too cold.

Though Max had yet to prove much related to the two dead men at the Vernon Fields tiny apartment complex, Danny felt the owner's son was a prime suspect and his association to the open murder on the docks was totally relevant. It was a personal, gut instinct and he was intrigued by the strong possibility. However, it was also true that his research into the records could easily wait a few hours.

Steve heaved in an aggravated sigh but didn't push him. When he said nothing, Danny turned on his heel and left the building. He had expected the showdown to commence first thing upon his arrival. Steve was sure Danny would have said something in his office that morning; rather, he got a professional read-out on their latest projects. It left Steve feeling uncertain about how to even initiate an apology.

Similar tactics continued for the remainder of that day and all of Thursday. Each time something might be mentioned outside of casework, Danny was conveniently unavailable for a break, lunch or what would have been the team's first official after work impromptu gathering. On that Friday morning, Danny was at the office very early. He was ready to put his theory to the test about Michael Jameson and the two cases, but his plans were sorely disappointing to Steve.

They were in the main bullpen area and Danny was once again getting ready to leave. This time for the bulk of the morning; and with an almost reluctant Chin Ho Kelly who was standing awkwardly off to the side as Danny verbally floated his plans. The older man winced inwardly as the explanation rolled off Danny's tongue and Steve's face took on a rather offended cast.

"It will take Chin and me about two or three hours .. maybe longer. So I'd like to suggest that you and Kono take a trip out to Halawa to look into the Ito problem."

"Me and Kono? The Ito case?" He'd been ready to approach Danny directly that day and talk things out. But the announcement derailed Steve in his tracks. Stunned, he stood there staring at Danny who remained completely unflustered in his seriousness. His tone was decidedly stern as he glared at the Detective. "Side bar. _Now_."

They were closer to Danny's office, so Steve indicated the room and watched as his partner swung on his heel leaving him to follow in his wake. With a weak smile, Chin chose to remain outside while the two had their discussion. Chin flinched again as the two faced off behind the closed door and he watched them through the glass.

Danny's desk was a wall between them and his defensive stance was obvious as Steve demanded to know what was going on. Rather than shouting, Chin watched in amazement as Danny simply folded his arms over his chest and Steve's face reddened.

"Not good, cuz." Kono whispered worriedly. "This is building into a real mess."

They expected more than what actually occurred. The meeting was succinct, though at times Danny couldn't refrain from using certain dramatic gestures or elaborate words to explain the two divergent cases that the team had been tasked with. During a tense lull, he escorted Steve back to his own office where three perfectly maintained manila folders were labeled and neatly placed on his desk.

"What's all this?" Steve asked tightly.

"One closed and two in progress. These are current and up-to-date copies for you." Though his mood was continually rising, Steve blandly walked around to read the tabs. "_Ito_" and "_Vernon Homicide_" were the two top files which Danny continued to explain. The closed case reflected the one assigned by the Governor which now included the final debriefing from all involved agencies.

"Like I've been saying, Kono and you could take a ride out to Halawa to question Ito. I figured that Chin and I could revisit the apartment on the North Shore and do another walk-through since it's starting to look more and more like a double homicide. I'd like to test that theory I've developed."

"Well, you figured wrong." Steve was angry by what the obvious suggestions implied and he practically growled out his own revisions to the ideas. He had gotten nowhere with Danny in his office as his partner oddly refused to engage him in more than work. "Kono and Chin can handle Halawa."

With that, he stalked from his office to have a brief conversation with the cousins, who were equally at a loss for words based on their genuine reactions. Danny watched the three convene by the smart table without expression. He hadn't thought his idea would work and so, wasn't exactly surprised by Steve's countermanding of his plans for the day. Though his stomach was in a turmoil, it was taking everything Danny had at his disposal to appear to be calm. He was determined to remain focused as he also ignored Chin's knowing look and Kono's almost injured eyes as he watched them leave together for Halawa.

Clenching his fists which were shoved deeply in his pockets, Danny faced Steve blandly enough which only infuriated him more as they resumed their conversation. "You and I are taking on Vernon."

"Fine. We'll be following up on this possible homicide then out by the North Shore." After wiping his palm on his slacks, Danny started to leaf through the files as he spoke. He only looked up when he had found what he wanted to slide the crime scene photos over to Steve.

"CSU finished processing the bulk of it yesterday and initial reports are there. You have dupes of these photos in your file." The overly zealous and meticulously organized comments were grating on Steve's nerves and he set his jaw in annoyance. "Max and the crime scene unit have already gone through the site and it's secure. But something is bothering me about it and how these two men died. Max has started to float this as a homicide and I concur."

"You concur." Steve repeated the two words in disgust which finally at least earned him a dark, unhappy look before Danny simply continued speaking. What he added though, certainly contributed to Steve's escalating irritation level.

"Since you're recovering and supposed to be taking it easy, I guess it should be benign enough for the two of us to walk-through. And I'd like to gain another perspective."

"Benign? That's very thoughtful of you, Daniel." Steve was undeniably angry after taking the files and thumbing through the photos. His partner's tone was condescending and his attitude was almost a challenge; to what, Steve wasn't yet certain because the man wouldn't speak to him in detail.

"So." Danny leaned back to stand taller and studied him closely. "You good to go then? Or is too much on your first week back? Because if it is, we don't have to do this today .. I can handle it alone or we can .."

"No." Holding his hand up to stop the mindless chatter, Steve shook his head as he forced his anger to stay down. "No, it's fine. I feel fine and you're not going out there alone."

"Alright. Good." He was surprised when Danny bounced on his toes, file in hand and then motioned to the door. "Let's go then. There's a meeting at three with the Governor and I'll need to transition a few other things back to you after lunch."

Danny tapped his watch as he slid his car keys out of his pocket and then had to stop when Steve blocked his path. He was angry, confused, and at a loss by that time on how to get his partner to actually speak more than a few terse words.

"What's really wrong, Danny? Why are you acting like this?" Steve expected the open invitation to be enough. He certainly wanted it to be. But it wasn't. Never one to pull punches, prepped by Chin's comment and now on the receiving end first-hand, Steve folded his arms over his chest to mimic his partner - and then immediately changed his mind about having a worse confrontation. He didn't miss the smirk that flashed almost too quickly across Danny's face. Danny was not ready to talk and their heated words would only deteriorate quickly into an argument of mammoth proportions.

"I'm focused on this case, Steven, and there's absolutely nothing wrong. The workload has quadrupled since you've been out on disability and there's a lot to catch you up on. Including what looks like a double homicide." His voice was too low and the tone was all wrong, plus the answer gave Steve nowhere to go. Danny gestured again around Steve's shoulder to the exit and he reluctantly moved aside.

"We have a lot to do today, we can always discuss more of the case in the car." He waited until Steve finally moved to follow but was aware enough to insist they use the elevator to save Steve the stairs. Keys firmly in hand, Danny strode to the driver's side of the Camaro and never hesitated sliding in behind the wheel. It took a long second for Steve to react to the overt move. His only recourse was to turn towards the passenger door and settle in for the ride.

They drove in silence until unable to help himself, Steve tentatively broke it first to try once more. It was a personal battle to keep his voice even and words moderate. "Danny .. listen ... I think we need to talk about a few things."

"We are talking." The only evidence of Danny's temper was a stiff posture and utter inability to take his eyes off the road in front of them.

"The apartment is empty like I said. I have a theory in that the complex is a cover and that the shooter actually dumped the bodies after he'd already killed them by overdose. Even though he's having trouble with time and cause of death, Max isn't entirely sold on the hypothesis yet."

"Stop changing the subject, Danny!" The tone had been flat and highly professional with no real emotion and Steve's own short temper began to tease at him no matter how hard he kept it at bay. "Again with the damned casework? When I said _talk_ just now, that's not what I meant, Danno, and you know it!"

"And I've told you a thousand times not to call me that." He wasn't kidding anymore. The joke was over and the teasing done. The cold anger flung back at Steve stung as Danny glared at him across the short distance.

"I have a job to do and I plan on doing that job to the very best of my ability. It begins and it ends right there." Sweat broke out on Danny's brow as he laid out the painful ultimatum.

"After intentionally burying yourself at work and avoiding me .. and now everyone for weeks .. that's it?" The stern darkness that leaked across Danny's face proved Steve right in that his partner was not ready to discuss the real issues. So he didn't wait for an answer as he stared first at Danny and then glanced out the window.

"This is not going to be it, Danny. Not by a long shot."

Steve's anger was rivaling Danny's own but he wasn't sure how to yet handle a side to his irate friend that he hadn't quite experienced before. Underneath the rock-hard coolness, Danny was highly emotional and ready to blow a gasket.

His fingers were white on the Camaro's steering wheel column and he refused to reply more than through a brief acceleration of his car.

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	11. Chapter 11

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes: **squeezing it in ... unplanned five minutes before leaving for the day.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O***

**Chapter Eleven**

A thick, volatile silence fogged the car for the remaining forty-five minute drive to the somewhat remote crime scene near the North Shore. Once they got out of the car at the not so lovely establishment of Vernon Fields, Danny rolled around to the back of the Camaro for the gear in his trunk. Wordlessly, he tossed a kevlar vest to Steve and grabbed an extra roll of yellow tape. Danny intended to replace what he needed to disturb upon entering the building.

Hiding under the partial shade of the raised trunk, Danny closed his eyes to gather his thoughts and emotions. His concept of burying himself in the banalities of work was one thing; actually doing it, was quite another because he cared too much. He couldn't help still being upset as he backed himself into a corner with his overly sensitive obstinacy. Chin had been mildly amused in the beginning; now he was growing impatient with the entire scenario.

Danny smiled briefly because Kono would always be more vocal and utterly in his face. She'd thrown her hands up in the air in her frustration as she loudly proclaimed her disgust for the ongoing antics. For the hundredth time, he wondered if he was burning out from the stresses of his job versus those imposed upon him by his off-beat SEAL partner and his sometimes off-the-wall methods.

"Herding cats." He groused quietly to himself. Danny wiped the sweat from his face and felt more trickling down his back under this vest. The coming afternoon was going to be blistering hot as the sun beat down on his back.

"You okay?" He looked up sharply to come face to face with Steve who had virtually snuck up on him. It was his turn for Steve to judge him from head to toe and he didn't approve of the sweat rolling down Danny's face or what was beginning to darken the neck of his shirt. "You look sick all of a sudden."

"I'm fine." The heat not only sapped his energy, it took much of the ongoing argument out of him too. While short, his reply lacked the earlier disagreeable tone. "It's hot. Let's get this over with."

"Maybe you should take the damned tie off." Knowing his suggestion would be ignored and the overly grumpy sigh proved it, Steve looked at the two story dilapidated building as he willingly put his own vest on. It was a renovated retail space with six small dismal apartments sporting a rundown paint job, cracked windows and broken wooden steps leading to the front entry. The Vernon Fields sign was chipped and weather-worn down to it's squeaky iron eye-bolts.

It stood starkly in the hot sunshine with only a few sparse scrubby trees and little lawn. There were no other cars except for a hulking ruin of an old pickup truck near the rear corner of the cracked, deeply pitted and worn parking lot.

"This place is a dump." He muttered under his breath but loud enough for Danny to hear him.

"It is." Danny agreed before finding some more solace in spouting some added facts out about the complex. "Three units are occupied and three are not. The bodies were found by the landlord. He got a call from one of his tenants who noticed the odor coming from the rear, first floor vacant apartment."

Steve followed Danny as he entered the short first floor hallway, strode directly through to the rear and cut through the yellow tape for the last door on the left. His running commentary was professional and all business as he filled Steve in on the original visual of the crime scene. "You can see the door wasn't forced; someone had a key. The tenant who notified the landlord actually thought it was a dead animal because for what this place looks like, they've never had trouble here."

The one bedroom apartment was small but bright with a big bay window allowing the full afternoon sun in without obstruction. However, the blood stained floor reeked from death, age, old food and mildew. Beer cans, pizza boxes and a general amount of rubbish was strewn across the floor in the main room which included a tiny galley kitchen. Water dripped noisily in the old sink where even more beer and soda cans had been tossed. Where he might have expected graffiti and holes punched into the white painted walls, there was none. The disarray was largely specific to the center of the floor.

Steve saw exactly what Danny had seen as he looked at the mess. The CSU outline and schematic for blood stains and for where the bodies had been placed demonstrated an odd, side by side, near perfect alignment.

Knitting his brow, Steve frowned even more before walking to the lone back bedroom which was utterly undisturbed. He glanced into the one bathroom on his way which was strangely clean enough for its ancient fixtures and broken tile.

He then looked again at the chaos in the main room.

"It's been staged."

"Thank you." It was the first time Danny's voice held even a tinge of pleasure and Steve smiled appreciatively at the simple reply.

"Max believes that both died from a drug overdose and at first appearances, it looks like the two broke in here to have a private party which deteriorated into some kind of weird gun play. But the residual cocktail drugs in their system was fatal and their death was virtually simultaneous based on the decomposition ... the quality of the blood is what Max calls "off". Regardless, what's the likelihood of a mutual OD happening?"

The two men were in their mid-twenties and not yet identified. Max was working on it diligently and resorting now to dental records.

"Are you telling me that they were shot after they were already dead?" Steve asked in shock and Danny nodded with an off-hand shrug.

"Yes. Each had a .45 in their right hand. Ballistics agrees they were shot at close range but there was no residue on their hands. Max sort of agrees that at least one of them was dead before being shot."

"So the guns were staged, too." Steve chuffed an amazed sound. Someone had worked diligently to make the murders appear to be anything but that.

The first floor apartments had access to a rear emergency exit that opened to a yard which was bordered by a heavy stand of trees. Almost with glee, Danny demonstrated that the exit at the end of the hallway wasn't locked and that no alarms would sound when he pushed it open.

The yard had once been a pretty oasis. Now, it was a disheveled mess much like the rest of the property. A small ditch with a few rocks had evidently been a lovely koi pond with a small grotto. An overgrown path led under an old trellis covered with wild and thorny vines. Next to that sat a rickety picnic table which was splintered and beginning to dry rot in the hot sun.

Without commenting, Danny led Steve past it all. A main highway could be heard on the other side though and Danny purposefully took Steve across the short grassy yard and into deep shade. At a startling short fifty feet, the dirt path led to a dirt parking area where they could see daily traffic rushing by.

"Far but not too far." Steve agreed with the theory. Two or more people could have easily parked off the highway and carried each body to the small complex. The lock on the rear emergency exit was broken and the building virtually deserted. It was an optimal location to dump the bodies and make an easy getaway.

"Who and why though?" Steve wondered as he walked the small piece of macadam and then bent down to eye the distant shape of the two-story apartment building. Someone would have had to known about the near vacant building and the rough access to it from the highway. They would have had to know it was a near perfect hiding spot to leave two bodies. Pulling out a pair of gloves, he bent down to bag the remnants of an old cigar, followed by a lip-stick stained cigarette.

"Right now, it could be anyone. But I've opened an inquiry against the landlord and I have a list of current and past tenants." As he listened, Steve had to smile again since Danny was all over his own theory even though actual proof was greatly lacking.

"How many?"

"Fourteen and two are perking to the top already." It was a long list, but certainly finite enough to determine conclusions.

Steve made an impressed face. "What's our next step then?" For what seemed to be one of their first congenial conversations of that morning, Steve saw the hesitation on the word '_our_' and chose to ignore it.

"Michael Jameson, the landlord's son is at the top of my short list. He lived in that very apartment for four years and his father kicked him out for not sticking to their rent agreement. There's no love lost between the two from what I've been told."

There was no preamble as Danny began to walk back down the path towards the apartment building and Steve grumbled about the rapid change of direction. He stopped and almost trod on Danny's heels when his friend came to an unexpected halt.

"What?"

"Blood." Danny was pulling his own pair of gloves now along with a small plastic bag to clip the three rusty-stained light green leaves that were level with their hips. "I didn't see this before."

Carefully, he shoved the leaves into the plastic and sealed it for the crime scene unit. "We need to get all of this to forensics." Then he was on his way and once again, Steve was forced to virtually trot in Danny's footsteps as his partner purposefully walked away.

"Slow down." Steve muttered irritably as a result of Danny's suddenly assertive attitude. He bit his tongue though as he re-entered through the broken rear exit door and followed Danny back into the actual crime scene. Leaning against the kitchen counter, Danny crossed his arms and offered more details by rote.

"Michael Jameson is thirty-six years old and is the only child of Vernon Fields' esteemed landlord, Eric Jameson. He's currently employed as a longshoreman. He has a five-page long rap sheet that began with petty theft in his teens and most currently he was questioned and then released in connection with a death on the docks roughly 16-months ago. He was released when his alibi evidently turned out to be valid."

That event, amongst others, plus the fact he hadn't paid his father as promised for his greatly discounted monthly rent had been the last straw. The living arrangement had included that his son also pitch in and care for the property doing odd jobs and basic landscaping. Those things had also been greatly lax and his father had him forcibly evicted.

"Jameson was convicted of breaking and entering with assault two years ago; he served his time and did his community service. The dockside murder is a serious step up for him. But it's still unresolved and these two ... while we don't yet know who they are yet .. I have a feeling that we're going to find an interesting relationship."

Agreeing, Steve nodded in approval. Despite the broken atmosphere, he enjoyed seeing his partner in his element and what he'd accomplished so far was testament to his skills. Though Danny was annoyed with him, he was excited about this Vernon Fields case and the hypothesis he was developing and beginning to share. Steve's grin was unconscious as he half-listened to what Danny was saying. _"I got 87 homicide cases under my belt looking like this."_

"Steve?" Danny was staring at him with a peculiar expression.

"Yeah, makes sense." Steve agreed quickly. The young man sounded as if he could be a very likely suspect. "Who's your second?"

"Jameson's old man, himself. The landlord of this lovely, garden establishment." Danny held his arms out wide for emphasis. He had begun with the obvious by investigating Michael Jameson. For kicks, he'd thrown the man's father into the system and was shocked by what he had learned. Danny's tone changed completely as he enthusiastically explained those new findings.

The elder Jameson had never been a stellar citizen himself and had been arrested numerous times for disorderly conduct, as well as two proven cases of arson in his teens. The worst though were the allegations of child abuse against his own young son who had been remanded to CPS by the age of ten. Danny meant it when he said no love was lost between the two men. The oddity of learning the once-abused son had actually lived in one of his father's apartments was an undefined mystery. It wasn't something he could quite figure out.

Now nearing 70 years old, the elder Jameson owned the shabby Vernon Fields property and appeared to have settled in his old age to be a somewhat decent landlord. However, Duke Lukela had not been impressed with the answers to his standard questions as the man seemed more annoyed than helpful. Far from doddering, the man refused to return Danny's calls for a follow-up interview which Danny found extremely strange considering two dead people were found on the man's private property. According to Duke, the elder Jameson was a difficult personality at best.

Steve moved aside as Danny walked past him to close the door and reset the yellow police tape since the CSU had plans to return. Looking for another opening and hoping for a continuation of their ongoing and much less intensive conversation, Steve stated the obvious. "I guess we meet with both men next?'

"Yup, whichever I can get in touch with first. A visit down to the docks is on the agenda ... soon. The old man has been an ongoing problem." Danny sighed before checking the time and reminding Steve of the afternoon appointment with the Governor. "We gotta go or we're going to be late."

"Hey." In the semi-dark hallway, Steve grabbed his arm before he could turn to walk out of the building. He could feel the heat through the dress shirt and wondered how on earth his partner could be putting up with the added oppression and near strangulation of the damnable tie. Steve was beginning to focus on that ridiculous article of clothing as his sore point. "Danny .. we have to clear the air."

Pulling out of reach, Danny backed away a few feet before hesitating. He was definitely thawing as he sighed and feebly tossed one hand between them before insisting on maintaining his original opinions.

"It's fine, Steve." He walked away leaving Steve standing by the yellow tape and the closed door to the crime scene. "The air's fine. We gotta go."

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	12. Chapter 12

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes: ** LONG medical and work week - thank you for being so patient for this chapter. HUGE HUGE HUGE thanks to Fifilla, CinderH, JazzieG and Synbou for the incessant (and I"m sure tedious by this time) questions and revisions on what was already technically complete. It seems the muses always want more. ;-)

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

**Chapter Twelve**

After the long morning which stretched into the lunch hour, Steve began to assume that his partner was over the worst of his snit. Especially when the Governor postponed the three o'clock appointment and their afternoon was freed up. They received the call in the coolness of the air-conditioned car as they drove back to the office and Danny visibly relaxed in the driver's seat.

"You want to talk now?" The sudden and very firm set to Danny's jaw expressed the sentiment first and Steve frowned.

"No."

"How about lunch?" Steve offered with a nod towards the clock on the dash. He relaxed when Danny silently agreed. He then almost kiddingly joked out one more special request as they parked in the lot near Kamekona's shrimp truck. But the truth was, Steve had focused on the ridiculous tie as his culprit.

Even with the strong shore breeze, hot was an understatement and they'd be eating at one of the beach-side tables. The vent to the air conditioning was aimed purposefully and on high directly into Danny's face for the entire return trip. It only partially seemed to set Danny back on his feet. After watching him wipe gallons of sweat from his face with his arm back at Vernon Fields, Steve still wasn't certain how he was putting up with it.

"Ditch the tie before I need to resuscitate your sorry, obstinate, over-heated ass on the pavement in front of Kamekona's truck."

"My sorry ass on the pavement? _Mine_?" Danny made an incredulous face but his hand went right to the annoying overly constrictive fabric and he fumbled for a minute before loosening and yanking it over his head. Without looking at Steve's sarcastic but distinctly satisfied smile, he tossed it blindly into the backseat and unbuttoned the first four buttons on his dress shirt. When he did turn to Steve, Danny had his hand on the door to get out of the Camaro, but his expression was definitely one of angry frustration.

"Let me tell you one thing .. _you_ picking _my_ ass off the pavement would be amazingly less dramatic than anyone scraping what might be left of your's from a plunging leap off a 10-story building without a net!"

"It wasn't that bad, Danny!" The uncertain smile plastered across Steve's face only annoyed his partner more. But the blustery tirade was back in full force and Steve was enjoying the front row seat.

"Now we're talking, Danno." Steve leaned back and folded his arms smugly as Danny sputtered and his face turned bright red. His hand flew off the door handle and made a 'you to me' gesture between himself and where Steve sat in the passenger seat.

"We .. we here .. no, this is not talking. This is me venting healthily." He had to smile at that; Steve simply couldn't help it as Danny's ire rose and he squinted almost dangerously as Steve dared to reiterate the words.

"Venting? Healthily?"

Danny slammed his mouth closed before deciding what to say next and what he said made Steve's initial smile begin to disappear.

"Really, you think this is funny? You want to tell my kid that after you explain it to me because I am not impressed?" Danny stared at Steve defiantly. He was still upset with the circumstances and Steve backed off completely.

The red-faced rush was on a singular hard push of exhaled air. "It's been a 42 days since she last saw you. Grace stopped asking about Uncle Steve only yesterday. At first I thought I wanted that .. we both got too close .. and I couldn't deal with telling her that you got hurt as badly as you were. I had to protect her .. us ... because she wanted to see you every day and they wouldn't allow her in the ICU which was a blessing. Then I made a decision to protect her and I've continually put off hoping she would do just what she's done. But now that it's happened, that's no good either."

"No." He took a deep breath and muttered under his breath. "Not good at all."

"You've been counting? 42 - really?" Steve's face went through a number of agonizing emotions as he digested 42 days. One or both of them had been calendar-watching and he was more than deeply touched by that. He knew it had been a long time - a much too long of a time - but 42 days was mind-boggling. He stared at Danny as he seemed to run out of steam as quickly as he'd gained the momentum.

"Protect her?' That one point slowly edged its way into Steve's brain. He instantly knew what Danny meant and he had nothing to say. There was nothing he could say as he realized Danny had amended that sentence to include 'us'. The fact only one day had passed without Grace asking for him hurt until he realized it hurt Danny, too.

"I'm sorry, Danny." As genuine as it was, it still wasn't nearly enough. Steve didn't know how to explain how much he valued them as family. Which was at the end of the day, the plain reason behind Danny's emotional temper. He valued it .. for himself, and for Grace. By the injured look in Danny's eye, he knew that the issue was still open.

"We're both cops, Danny." He said it as an excuse and Danny was already shaking his head to once again clarify it.

"No, I am by rights." Things were dwindling rapidly as words started to come out wrong. Each knew it though as the temperature in the Camaro rose. Danny was sweating again and Steve's face had become a bit more hard. At a loss once more, Danny opened the car door to slide out. "You ... you are a first class moron."

With that, Danny lurched from the Camaro and aimed himself towards the shrimp wagon where he heatedly demanded his standard fare. Behind him, Steve stood silently and uneasily as he only half-engaged Kamekona and then followed his partner to the table. Danny was sitting there with his eyes closed as sweat continued to roll of his face. He was arguing with himself as he had for days now about his job, his co-workers, friends and this difficult Ohana that complicated everything in his life to include Grace so neatly. He felt Steve sit across from him and still didn't move. The breeze off the beach did little to cool his skin or his temper.

"I know what you're all about." Eyes closed, Danny spoke softly. "We all do; even my ten-year old ... though I'm not sure she really understands its ramifications. Grace may think you are as invincible as you evidently believe you are, too. But I can't watch you take your own life so arbitrarily and as if it means nothing .. to no one."

"The suspect died on impact. You were three very short feet from the same fate and then in ICU for days on end. First you almost died and according to Ponch, you should have based on your injuries. There was a strong chance that you wouldn't be yourself again. Each step .. each long step .. was frightening." His voice dropped even lower as he peered up at Steve who was watching him closely. Danny took a deep breath and then announced the most startling of anything he had ever said.

"But you know that. Ponch told you all of that already .. about heart damage .. lung damage. You are once again, damned lucky to be sitting here whole and entirely intact." He was morbid in his seriousness and Steve had to accept every syllable as the truth.

"If you're a liability to yourself, then you're a liability to me .. and to the team." Steve understood that some of what he did put his team in a poor situation. Danny in particular, and Steve looked away to stare at the ocean before looking into his eyes.

"Are you asking for a change?" Steve was afraid to voice it; afraid of where this sudden confession was leading. But Danny barely shrugged before speaking a few minutes later.

"A change .. yes. But how or what? I have no idea." Danny sighed and shook his head before tapping the table aimlessly. His attempt at a smile failed completely. "What do we change, Steve? What can either one of us change if we are who we are?" By his expression, the conversation was over as he started to toy with his food. Quietly, Steve did the same and they finished in silence at nearly the same time.

After lunch, Danny retreated into his office to continue his investigation and research into the Jameson family. He kept his nose to the grindstone then for the bulk of the day, leaving Chin and Kono to handle bringing Steve up to speed on the Ito situation. Every so often, Danny would look up discreetly to study Steve's complexion or apparent energy level. Steve was doing the same to Danny and slowly escalating once more behind closed doors.

"Are you two back on track?" Chin asked hesitantly since each man's demeanor was still communicating a deep uncomfortable intensity.

"Almost, but not quite. We talked a little and I get it." Steve admitted before leaning back in his chair. Since he was in the office and in the present, Steve had begun to downplay Danny's earlier words of doom and gloom about life-alterng accidents. "He's being a bit over-sensitive about all of this, though."

"I must admit he's been wound up the longest I've ever seen him. But you know it's not necessarily about an apology." The comical quirk to Chin's eyebrows made Steve smile and he shook his head ruefully. He almost kept the smile as if in jest about his own dare-devil tendencies and the need to amend some of his tactics.

"What am I supposed to do, Chin? He even said it today." Rubbing at the healed spots on his chest, Steve's grin widened as if begging his friend to understand and blindly accept the inevitable. But Chin only cleared his throat loudly as a sign of disagreement. In response, the short smile faded from Steve's face to become more serious.

"Okay! Yeah, I know. I get that it's not about the apology. I promise that I'll be more careful." Chin sighed but had more to say since it was all deeper than even that.

"You almost got yourself killed, brah. You scared us all and it's more than being just careful. Unless we used a crowbar, he never left the hospital until Ramirez got you off the vent and declared you out of the woods. Then he threw himself into the job." Softly voiced, Chin was equally sensitive to the past accident and knew that Steve was continually missing the point. What he said next was technically public knowledge, but wholly unexpected. It provided Steve with the rest of the complex issue and Chin left him sitting at his desk with even more food for thought.

"He's lost two partners and as he so told me, he's not interested in losing a third. One of whom has become an important friend and special Uncle to his daughter." Chin's raw honesty truly made Steve think at that point and back up Danny's complaints during lunch. It left him distinctly more pensive and thoughtful about what he might be inadvertently doing to his team .. and his friends.

"We all work well together." He blurted that fact out just under his breath. "I have zero complaints about this partnership and team, Chin." Understanding was slow at first, but the epiphany came hard on its heels. It was Chin yet again who managed to put it to words, though.

"The team is strong because of our differences. However, Danny feels responsible for that partnership, Steve. For both the good .. and god forbid, the bad." Chin tapped his own head meaningfully.

"You're trained and hard-wired just a bit differently than a cop. What works on a mission and with other like-minded military men is not necessarily fully transferable here and in this reality. Danny knows that, brah. I'm just not sure he knows how to deal with the unpredictability of it when it sometimes goes as badly as it can." Chin smiled warmly before continuing to make one final point.

"He cares too much and he's absolutely right in that we all have gotten a bit too close. It's not bad .. it's just a bit more complicated and as a family, we can't take each other for granted. And despite your own popular belief, you my friend, are not invincible."

The last comment was for all of them and Steve sat back with a garbled sigh.

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	13. Chapter 13

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes: **uh yeah - saber toothed bunny got loose.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

**Chapter Thirteen **

So what had turned into a long first day back to work, eventually settled into a roller coaster week of emotions. Combined with the stress of two major cases, the later Friday hours found Steve holding his aching head as yet another tedious afternoon seemed to drag on endlessly. Nearly dozing at his desk after dry-swallowing over-the-counter pain medication, Steve looked up with a start through his fingers when his door clicked open.

"Go home, Steven." The tie was now happily missing but the dress shirt looking very war-weary and rumpled as Danny leaned over to switch off Steve's desk lamp and close the lid to his PC. Though his eyes might say otherwise, his general expression and tone of voice were matter-of-fact. Evidently Danny had been watching him for the bulk of the day, and somewhere along the way had noticed that Steve wasn't feeling very well.

"I'm fine, Danny." He griped just to be disagreeable in his illness, but Danny persisted with much more determination.

"No. Go home and get some rest." Leaning tiredly back in his chair, Steve grumbled under his breath. Contrary to himself, there was a certain energy leaking out from Danny that said he was in fact, quite busy. Steve tested the theory by pushing in his own way.

"What are you going to do, now? It's Friday and I thought we'd all leave a bit early and go out for a drink." Steve's voice had lost its color not only due to his headache, but because he pretty much knew what the answer would be no matter what he might say. Chin's sobering words of wisdom and Danny's ongoing reserved mannerisms outside of the short sparring match during lunch, only made Steve more uncertain on how to proceed. He only knew that they were both incredibly unhappy.

"A drink is the last thing you need with a migraine." Steve still frowned at the advice because Danny was right. Then without missing a beat, Danny responded to the first half of Steve's tired comment but the excuse was fairly reasonable.

"I'm picking Grace up after her cheerleading practice and I'm taking her out for dinner and a movie. In the meantime, I'm pulling files on Michael Jameson and getting a handle on his work schedule which seems to constantly change; then I'm going to pull out the documents related to the dock murder from 16 months ago. I may have missed something and I've also got a good idea of the elder Jameson's living arrangements and general day-to-day activities."

With skillful dexterity, Danny had again orchestrated a distinct lack of time by blaming casework and Steve would undoubtedly find another highly professional update on his desk come the next business morning.

"Danny. How long do you think you can keep this up?" Again, it wasn't entirely what he had meant to say and Steve sighed as his hand flopped idly on his desk. He grimaced as his vision blurred and he palmed his forehead.

"Are we good at all here .. because I don't intend on going anywhere. We .. uh, as friends .. we need to talk this out."

"Yeah, we're good." Embarrassed about what he was trying to communicate, Steve narrowed his eyes as his partner paused and then shrugged a haphazard affirmative. The finality of his answer though focused on why he'd originally entered Steve's office. Through his splayed fingers that once again settled on his aching forehead, Steve blearily watched as Danny frowned more deeply about what evidently was a very pale and sweaty complexion.

"You're tired, don't feel well, and shouldn't push yourself on your first week back. Go home, leave a bit early like you said and seriously get some rest; I got things under control here."

Danny scowled when Steve grunted and fumbled for his truck keys before he closed his eyes and rubbed his temple repeatedly. He saw him swallow hard and then completely changed his mind about anything to do with the Jameson case. With a migraine and an abysmally bright Hawaiian afternoon, Steve would be beyond miserable in an attempt to drive in a straight line to any destination. The subtle tremble to Steve's finger was the final straw and his scowl tightened because he knew what it was like to do anything feeling so ill. Kono and Chin were due back after following up on other leads related to the Ito issue at Halawa, but Danny made his own decision after glancing at the clock.

"I have time." Danny announced as he crossed his arms authoritatively.

"For what?" Steve peered up curiously at him.

"Forget about driving and get your stuff together. I'm taking you home and then I'll go for Grace. The rest of this stuff can wait." Then Danny was gone before Steve could think to argue or question him further. Pulling himself to his feet, Steve watched as Danny virtually ran through his own office. It took him less than five minutes to save his work on his computer, shut down his equipment and dim the lights. Keys in hand, Danny was waiting for him and refusing to take no for an answer.

"I have plenty of time to pick Grace up from practice. We'll worry about your truck later." Each step was sending a sliver of pain through Steve's head as he dared to nod his thanks. By the time he hit the parking lot and the agonizing brightness, Steve was hiding behind dark sunglasses and barely able to see where he was going.

"In." He cracked his eyes open a bit more to see that Danny was already holding the Camaro's passenger door open for him. Sliding in, Steve tightly closed his eyes and then was slouched up against the window as soon as Danny closed the door. He felt the car start and then sighed as Danny cranked up the air conditioning and thoughtfully aimed the vents towards his sweaty face.

It was peacefully quiet in the car and Danny drove quickly but carefully to avoid the worst traffic. He also refused to simply allow Steve to hobble up to his front door half blind. The dark aura had finally begun to creep in around the edges of his vision, and with it came the nausea. He was growing more desperate by the second as the nausea doubled and he aimed himself directly for his downstairs bathroom.

Behind him, Danny stood silently in the living room as Steve disappeared before going up to the main bedroom where he instantly darkened the room and readied the bed. He passed Steve on the stairs and huffed a worried sound at the now ashen face, wet hair and damp water-stained t-shirt. Steve had obviously gotten sick and then had dunked his head under the water spigot to soothe the ache in his head and cool his face.

"Be back in a sec." Danny whispered as he went to the kitchen for ice water, followed by his own visit to the bathroom to ransack the cabinet for stronger pain medication, and then prepared a cold, wet wash cloth.

Hands now full of useful things, Danny took the stairs two at a time. Boots and clothes were strewn in a crazy minefield path towards the bed and Steve was already bedridden with his arm flung over his eyes and the ceiling fan on high. As quietly as possible, Danny put the medication and water in easy reach and then physically moved Steve's arm to lay the cold cloth over his eyes. The grunt of thanks made him smile sympathetically as Steve flopped his hand back down over the cloth.

"Better?" Danny was whispering, relieved to get a slight nod. Steve heaved in a shuddering breath, winced and then palmed the wet cloth between his eyes. For a moment, Danny watched his chest rise and fall before needing to make sure Steve was telling him everything.

"There's nothing wrong anywhere else ... right? You can breathe okay .. there's no pain anywhere .. _else_?" Steve peeled the cloth partially off his face and squinted up at him. For all the temper and odd behavior, Danny was truly worried. He was possibly even almost afraid and couldn't help with his over-the-top mother-henning. It relayed another message under the pretense of the migraine, and as minor as that headache really was in the context of things, at first Steve could only stare at him.

"M'fine, Danny. Thanks .. it's just the migraine."

"Okay." Danny relaxed slightly, though he continued to whisper. "I gotta run to get Grace. You've got water and meds on the night table here. Plus your phone, which is on silent ... call if you need something, but try to get some sleep. One of us will check in on you later."

Steve watched through half-opened eyes that were warring with any type of light as Danny straightened up his discarded boots and clothing. On his way out, he double-backed to lay a blanket at the foot of the bed and rechecked to make sure things were in easy reach. If his partner was so concerned over a headache, what had he done when Steve was hospitalized?

Almost loathe to leave the house, Danny was solicitous as he toyed with the glass of ice water and then even loosened the top on the bottle of pain medication. He looked up at Steve when he suddenly realized he was still being watched. "What else do you need?"

Steve shook his head once because he was fine. He was better than fine since he finally knew the answers to his unspoken musings. Steve had witnessed what Danny had done by being on the receiving end of the angry, upset fallout first hand.

"Sorry, Danno." Steve croaked out almost dramatically before flinching as a spike of pain settled behind his eyes.

"Yeah." Pausing to swipe the wet cloth out from under Steve's fingers, Danny refolded it to put it back in place once more. "Me too."

Steve huffed faintly under his hand as he tried to offer some small note of disagreement about Danny needing to be sorry. But then he almost had to chuckle even though it brought on another spike of migraine pain. Danny's whisper was soft as he started to leave the room for the second time and as sick as he was, Steve found himself weakly grinning.

"You are still a first class moron." There was no heat to the words. Just an exasperated, friendly sound that was all worried-Danny at his finest. "Go to sleep, Steven."

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	14. Chapter 14

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes: **Yes, there will be whumpage coming - definitely Danny and likely both the way things are going. We would have been there by now if not for this stupid personal need for DETAILS. ;-) But the muses promise EPIC whumpage when it does occur! (in 2 chapters roughly I'd say).

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

**Chapter Fourteen**

He saw her standing on the beach during his return trip and almost went under in sheer surprise as a wave washed directly into his face. He was stunned by the surprise visit and accidentally inhaled a bit of water from a second mis-timed stroke. She was shading her eyes from the sun and obviously searching for him. She began to wave frantically with both arms when she spotted his head between the next gentle rise and fall of the swells. His swim had been purposefully shortened to not aggravate the tenuous return of a full blown migraine; he'd also been warned about taking his time in getting back to a more strenuous exercise regimen. At first resentful of the restrictions, Steve was now thrilled as he paused mid-stroke to wave back to Grace on his trip to shore.

"Uncle Steve!" Grace was wearing shorts over her bathing suit as she waded in to greet him. She was beaming as he swept her up and she anchored her legs around his waist.

"I missed you." She voiced it as if it were entirely his fault and Steve's grin widened. "Danno said you were really sick. Are you supposed to be swimming?"

Her eyes were full of laughter, but her tone was decidedly severe in case he wasn't yet allowed to go in the water. Loaded with innuendo, it was reminiscent of the "hand caught in the cookie jar" tone from his youth. Forty-two had almost become forty-three full days and Steve smiled into her partially serious face realizing even more how much he'd missed her.

"I missed you too, Grace. And yes, I can go swimming as long as I'm careful. What do I owe this absolutely fantastic honor this morning?" He kissed her forehead before looking over her head to spy Danny and Chin on the lanai. He had assumed someone would swing by to pick him up for the drive back to the offices. However, they - and likely _Danny_ - had obviously coordinated some plan to return his pickup truck and he couldn't be more ecstatic as he set Grace on her feet and grabbed up his towel from the sand.

"We brought your truck back and Danno thought we could stay awhile? If you do feel better?" She ended it on a question and he ruffled her hair happily.

"You bet, Gracie. Stay all day or stay the weekend ... we're going to do whatever you and Danno want!" Grace's face fell slightly and he stopped walking to question her.

"What's that sad look for?" At first he was afraid Danny had reneged and was on the verge of a mere five-minute visit, but Grace dismally explained what was really happening.

"I have to go home tonight instead of tomorrow. It's Stan's birthday." The unspoken complaint was obvious though Grace did love her step-Stan too. She simply had no way of being in two places at once. So, she and Danny would need to lose part of their already brief time together.

"I have to be home by five o'clock to change for his special dinner. We're going to his favorite restaurant and some of his friends are coming too." She was torn and Steve recovered quickly knowing that Danny would be the one needing more molly-coddling in the end.

"I'm sure the birthday party is going to be great fun and it's very very important that you be there." Grace could only nod because the adults were the ones doling out her immediate life plans. Trying to encourage her in the hectic balancing act between parents, Steve gently tickled her ribs. "It's a party .. how could you not want to go to a _party_!"

"I guess so." He got a tiny smile. "Mommy ordered a chocolate cake, too."

"I bet it's a lot of fun, Grace." His next question shook the sadness from her voice and he had her really smiling again seconds later. "So tell me - how was your movie last night? I want to hear all about it."

She chattered endlessly as they walked back and they were both smiling from ear to ear when they reached the lanai. Chin was laughing about something and giving Steve a meaningful look and he knew by the stern expression on Danny's face he was on the verge of an outburst. Arms folded, Danny's face was quizzically serious as he eyed Steve's wet hair and then pointed to the ocean.

"Really?" Steve grinned foolishly at the sarcasm. Danny squinted as if he could actually measure if his partner still had a migraine.

The one word was definitely the prelude and then Steve had to replay his entire repertoire for Grace's father again. His warm welcome of Chin and Danny was utterly ignored as Danny tugged on the wet towel. Grace giggled as she watched him and then listened as he almost mimicked her word for word.

"Swimming? Are you cleared for swimming? Because I don't remember that being the case .. so soon. You've been under the weather ... especially after the whopper of a migraine you had yesterday. Is a near drowning going to be your encore performance?"

"Yes, Danny. No, Danny!" Eyes raised towards the heavens, Steve looked to Chin who was laughing openly by that point. With an ever-increasing smile, Steve joined him much to Danny's continued aggravation.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

That Monday morning, Steve softly cursed under his breath when he saw the Camaro already parked in the lot and he had a brief unsettling thought that Danny might have actually slept over at the offices Sunday night. He, Chin and Grace had stayed with Steve for the bulk of the day on Saturday. After having brought two boxes of the obligatory pastries for breakfast, they all piled into the truck to gather more than enough food for an elaborate mid-afternoon barbecue.

Danny had been amused as Grace fell asleep in the lounge chair after eating two hot dogs. The visit had been a balm to the entire team, especially when Kono arrived also unexpectedly. Running late at that point, Danny only gently woke his daughter to leave for her mother's house with a briefly unhappy expression that only Steve recognized. Then no one had heard from Danny for the short balance of the weekend. With the fairly necessary change in his visitation schedule, Steve didn't doubt that Danny had actually gone into the office to work. Once again he needed space and once more, he dove into work. Seeing the Camaro earlier than his own arrival irked him slightly as he made his away upstairs.

As he entered the main area, Steve felt himself duly measured when he strode into his office.

"You look good." For some reason, Danny's quiet comment rubbed Steve the wrong way and he had to stop himself from reacting negatively. Especially when he found the obligatory paperwork neatly stacked on his desk as Danny leaned casually in his doorway before he could even take a seat behind his desk. For the amount of documentation waiting for review, he was positive now that his partner had buried himself in the Jameson case.

"You've been busy." Choosing to allow his partner the distraction from his visitation woes, Steve remark was dry and only meant for the short stack of files. "What is all this?"

"The old man's going to be at the apartment this morning. He wants HPD's permission to rip the place up and begin renovation. A unit stopped at Max's request to get more samples and fibers from the carpet and they ran into the landlord who got right on the phone because he thought we were done." There was a hint of amusement in Danny's voice regarding the idea of the tiny apartment actually being renovated. The entire building known as Vernon Fields would need to be razed for any significant improvements to ever be made.

"I'd like to take another drive out there before we grant him permission." They had no real reason to bring the elder Jameson in, but the impromptu meeting afforded them an opportunity to personally meet the man and Steve readily agreed. Eric Jameson's purposeful avoidance was one of the major issues that most bothered Danny thus far in the case.

"Is he expecting us?" Steve asked. The small devious grin was welcome, made more special by the tilt of Danny's eyebrow. "Nope. Not exactly, but this happens when one doesn't return official calls."

Danny paused to add another concern. "I did receive an interesting message from Michael Jameson though. He sounds a bit anxious in the voicemail and wants to meet with us today, too. He picked a JoJo's Cafe near the wharf as the meeting place. What's your opinion on having Kono and Chin meet with him while we visit his father?"

'Perfect plan." Steve agreed as he thumbed through files on his desk. They waited for Chin and Kono to arrive to run through the day's plans and a quick recap. After the four had met and shared notes, they split up to go their different ways.

Mid-way down the stairs, Steve coyly targeted the keys held loosely in Danny's fingers. Timing the conquest, he grinned at the stunned _'hey!'_ before striding quickly out to the Camaro.

"I don't recall forgiving you. Not entirely." Danny growled in mock annoyance.

Instead of immediately replying, Steve shrugged and leered happily over the hood of the car while swinging the keys back and forth temptingly. "My turn!"

He made a show of moving the seat back and rubbing his hands over the steering wheel. With a huge grin, Steve started the Camaro as Danny patiently huffed about his childish antics. But once they got moving, Danny called Mr. Eric Jameson as Steve neared the end of the forty-five minute drive back out to the run-down complex. From Danny's annoyed words, he could tell Jameson was not entirely pleased that they would be meeting him on his property.

"We're pulling in now." He had purposefully timed it so they would be arriving and Danny relayed that fact calmly to the raspy voiced, elderly man before ending the call. The loud, angry tone echoed in the cabin of the Camaro and Danny smiled smugly. "Well, he's certainly not happy about our visit. He sounds ancient, too."

"I actually haven't met him in person. Duke has during standard questioning and he said he's not cooperative and not at all what he sounds like." Pointing as Steve parked the Camaro, Danny commented on the small dark blue pickup truck. The vehicle had a beat-up white cap that was missing it's rear upper hatch door. A ladder was fastened to one side and the tail gate was down to reveal a mess of old tarp and what looked to be nothing more than junk in the short bed.

"That's got to be Jameson's truck." A small beat-up Honda Civic was parked nearby and they could smell something cooking from one of the apartments. As they got out, they took stock of the three workers leaning up against the landlord's vehicle. Coffee in hand, they were joking and laughing with each other in the shade. When the men noticed the Five-0 officers, they waved off-handedly and one moved to take the ladder down from the truck.

"Our Mr. Jameson is quite impatient about getting this cleaned up." Steve made a face though as he watched the three workers outside the truck by its short bed. Dressed almost identically in stained, white coveralls, the men were laughing and smoking as if waiting for permission to begin their renovation. He stopped to study their attire and filed away the lack of logo identification on what looked like painters' or handyman's protective clothing.

"What's missing?" He caught Danny's eye and his partner followed his nod. It could be nothing or it could be something and both were on their guard. Unable to quite put their finger on it, the three seemed out-of-place in the small lot and something was definitely missing from the picture. "Interesting. Let's see what's going on with our new friend."

The scent of a homemade pasta sauce was lingering strongly at the foot of the short staircase to the upper floors and Danny inhaled the air appreciatively. "Someone can certainly cook."

The strong scent of tomatoes and basil stayed with them down the hallway but Danny made a disgruntled face when he saw the balled up yellow tape lying on the floor. They could hear talking from inside the vacant apartment and Danny knocked loudly.

"Mr. Jameson. Five-0. Open up please." The muffled conversation ceased instantly as the door swung open quickly and Danny tried not to gawk.

As for Jameson's impressive size, Duke hadn't been kidding. Danny came face to chest with the formidable proprietor of the dismal Vernon Fields property as he was forced to take three steps backwards and directly into Steve. Another man in white coveralls was standing behind the large elderly man. He wasn't completely dressed in the jumper and the long white sleeved arms were hanging down. Along with his cocky demeanor, the expensive black button-downed shirt was utterly out-of-place for the man's supposed job.

Danny measured both men and instantly didn't like what he sensed. He especially was on guard with the partially uniformed and apparently faked handyman sharing the same space with the Vernon Fields' property owner. The uncomfortable feeling about the men outside in the parking lot intensified as he felt the strong potential for being surrounded and trapped.

"You the ones who called me back after the first two cops showed up unannounced? I just wanted to know if I could clean this stuff out of here. Why'd you bother driving all the way, the hell, out here? Didn't they do enough? Aren't you done yet?" His accent was thick, nondescript and decidedly blue-collar. Jameson could be from any part of the States where education was lacking, the neighborhoods rough, and hard labor the norm. He eyed them with a nasty glare while puffing steadily on a large cigar. His voice was rusty, old and phlegmy but his eyes were much too brightly clever as he studied them in kind.

Clearly hostile and wishing them gone, Eric Jameson folded his thick arms over an even thicker, muscular chest. "So? What do you boys want now?"

The antagonistic attitude raised Steve's hackles and Danny felt him swell up in a tightly controlled anger behind him. Using his own body to block the surge of power, Danny glowered threateningly while settling his hand on the butt of his gun to share a very blatant message with Jameson.

"We seem to be getting off on the wrong foot. That would be a shame." Rubbing his fingers over the holster, Danny was sarcastic as he offered the man one small chance to cooperate. "I think you might want to rephrase that."

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	15. Chapter 15

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes: **sooooo, I have doctor appts tomorrow; plus one for mother-dearest. I am concerned/worried? that the doctor did not call yet with the results from the MRI taken last week. *sigh* I guess no news, is good news in this case. The last time it was: _ Sunday morning 9 am and get your butt to the ER. I'm calling ahead for you & getting an operating room ready now. Okay, doc. Sure._

So I digress! Since time is of the essence and my darling beta's came through yet again on last minute comments ... I am posting an early chapter. But I must admit, you will need to wait until Thursday for the next one as the muses poke and mull over whumpage and plot issues.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

**Chapter Fifteen **

Behind Danny, Steve had become equally as wary. He also had his hand resting on his weapon as he suspiciously cataloged the elder Jameson, the supposed handyman, and then tried to see past them and into the apartment. Jameson's large girth took up the large majority of the view though. He was sure that a third someone was lurking in the background as a certain feeling put him even more on edge. Cocking his head, Steve was positive that he heard footsteps or a shuffling noise from the back of the small kitchen area.

Danny's warning was received loud and clear as Jameson didn't precisely deflate, but he at least rephrased his comments as best as he could. "Fine. I'm here and you called for something?"

"We did." Danny affirmed without offering more. The man was definitely older but hardly could be called elderly. He was burly, steady on his feet, and thick from years of hard labor. His calloused and stained hands swallowed Danny's with a firm handshake which was used to purposefully keep the Detective back from entering the apartment.

Sour-faced and slightly hunched, Jameson distinctly wasn't a friendly soul as he gave Steve a rude, cursory glance. He growled in annoyance and couldn't resist reiterating his complaints. "I still say that you didn't need to come back out here if you're all done here with your sciency stuff. Those other two cops said they .. _you all_ .. were done. What do you want now ... _officers_?"

Danny frowned in distaste. Besides the man's terrible attitude, personal stench, something sharply astringent lurked just in the background. For Danny, the caustic smell over-powered the cooking pasta sauce, the poor hygiene and the heaviness of the cigar. He had read Lukela's report and nothing pointed to the man in particular, but along with the man's past records something immediately rubbed him the wrong way. Then there was the new chemical-like odor that reminded him of ... fire .. arson. Even if he missed that subtle smell, Danny felt Steve shift behind him and knew his partner now held a very similar opinion of the elderly man.

"Two things. First, we did need to come back out since you refused to be available to me. Secondly, after we're done, yeah it's going to be fine and you can do what you want to clean up this apartment. So, I have a few more questions if you don't mind."

"I mind. The fact I didn't call you proves that." Jameson inhaled and then lifted his face to the ceiling to expel a choking grayish-black cloud that roiled Danny's stomach. He had already forgotten his need to be mannerly as he was not so nicely reminded by Steve's own escalating temper.

"Mr. Jameson seems to have memory problems." Steve ground out in warning as he purposefully watched the bluish smoke hit the ceiling in the hallway. The man paused before chomping on the edge of his cigar. His mind was obviously whirling as he tried to control his own temperamental issues.

He coughed heavily on an inhale before pulling the cigar from his mouth. He held it loosely between tobacco-stained fingers as he pointed at Danny's chest and then dropped the offensive hand when Steve aimed yet another glaring look his way. "Listen. I answered all your police questions down at the precinct. Why can't you get the report from your cop friends?"

"You do realize that your admittance of avoiding my requests means I can bring you in for obstruction?" His rude attitude had more than alienated Danny and Steve easily sensed his partner's temper rising but he stood his ground. Technically, Danny was quite correct and they could bring the man in for obstruction of justice and make his life a bit difficult. His attitude was almost case enough as well, but with nothing solid to go on, it might not be worth the added aggravation.

Steve folded his arms arrogantly, keeping his fingers near his own gun. "I'm sure you'd like to get on with your day. A trip to the precinct would put a significant kink in your plans, though. It's entirely up to you."

Behind him, the supposed painter shifted uncomfortably on his feet and moved a bit out of their view. It was then that Danny realized what was missing. Another vehicle. There was no way that four men could have joined the landlord in the small dilapidated pickup that was parked out front. Other than the ladder, there was no gear or handyman tools.

Danny hesitated and put his hand on Steve's arm as a sign or a red flag. Jameson's face broke into an ugly unfriendly grin as he digested the threat. "Talk then. Ask away."

Forging ahead but with much more caution, Danny pointed to the rear door which led to the path and the parking area near the highway. "How long has this emergency exit door been broken?"

Confused by the odd question, Jameson shrugged. "Just about forever I'd say."

"Have you ever had trouble with anyone coming in off the highway there ... any signs of trespass or vandalism?"

"Nope. This was a first .. and a doozy, I'd say." The man chewed roughly on the cigar as he stared down at the smaller, younger Detective.

"There was no sign of a forced entry. Anyone else have keys to this .. establishment or to this particular apartment? Maybe a real estate agent helping to rent the empties for you?' Jameson paused and then shook his head in the negative.

"Nope. Just me. That it? I got stuff to do." He was annoyed when Danny clearly wasn't finished. Though careful, Danny was pushing the envelope as the fake painter moved deeper into the small apartment.

"Just one more question. Do you think your son is capable of doing something like this? His record escalated over the past few years and he was questioned in detail in regard to an older murder down on the docks where he works." Jameson narrowed his eyes and then his hunched posture became more threatening. His offended anger rose to an extreme level and was overwhelming in the small space.

"Me and my kid don't exactly see eye to eye. But he ain't no killer." Danny's prompt on his arm had caused Steve to react. His finger had easily slid the keeper off the holster. He was within a hairs-breadth now of responding to the ongoing threat.

It was then that Steve interrupted the stilted conversation because he was sure that he saw a third shadow or heard an odd muffled thump. He felt Danny tense and knew he had heard the same but was surprised when he got a sharp elbow in his vest for this next question. Danny had sidled a bit closer and was staring at something towards a barely seen corner of the room. But where Danny suddenly seemed to want to leave, Steve pushed more into Jameson's face.

"Who else is here with you today?" Steve meant besides the crew and Jameson clearly understood he was referring to the shuffling sounds. Both he and Danny were on the same mental wave-length and wondering if a hostage might be held within the confines of the apartment. But again he sensed Danny's growing desire to leave and avoid a direct confrontation.

"Here?" Jameson jerked his head towards Steve and it was the first time there may have been a flash of surprise. "Nobody. It's me, this foreman and his cleaning crew." Thumbing his own chest, he glowered at Steve.

"Mind if we come in for a second?" Steve asked aggressively, but Jameson was talking over him as his face became mottled and red.

"I'm here! Me, myself and I. I'm in charge and I get to clean this mess up myself with this cleaning crew. It's costing me money to have them wait here doing nothing while I waste time talking to the cops yet again. So I've got enough to do instead of answering questions that won't do it for me!"

Unfortunately for Jameson, the faint shuffling sound reached their ears and the three had a momentary, silent standoff. The handyman had moved well off to the side and it was then that Danny absolutely identified the rifle and the shadow of what could be another next to it. If the man hadn't moved it would have remained partially hidden and Danny would have been uncertain. But the AK-47 sent a dangerous message and Danny knew they were in over their heads between the men in the apartment and the small group outside in the parking lot.

There were too many men, unforeseen weapons. a missing vehicle that Danny began to sense would be parked down the path by the highway and a civilian much too close. Danny again gripped Steve's arm as a signal when he felt his partner move to stand next to him. He made a soft disagreeable sound in the back of his throat when Steve leaned forward with one hand on the door frame.

"You know .. we're good here. That's not going to be necessary." Danny changed gears almost instantly with Jameson. At first, Steve avoided looking at him as Danny gently put his hand on the front of his tac-vest. Patting it once, he gave him a warning look when their eyes met so briefly that clearly communicated trouble on the horizon.

Once Steve grudgingly backed up, Danny gave the elderly man a short wave. "Fine. Go ahead and do what you need to do in there; HPD and Five-0 are done here. Thank you for your cooperation. Let's go, McGarrett."

Steve and Jameson were nearly challenging each other now as Jameson shrugged a goodbye with a short triumphant grin. With his fingers lightly laced in the top of Steve's vest, Danny pulled at him once. "McGarrett. We're good here."

He glanced briefly upstairs and made a face as music began to play and the sound trickled down the staircase. "Damn, damn, damn." He muttered to himself.

"There's a problem." Danny whispered quietly over his shoulder. He knew that Steve hadn't seen the weapon and he also knew that Steve wanted to go in on Jameson immediately by his slow pace. "Gimme the keys. Come on."

"I know there's a problem but what are you doing?" Steve hissed while motioning back to the building. They were outside now and just a few steps from the Camaro when Steve tossed the keys over the roof to Danny's hand.

"Here. Catch. What are we doing?" The three workmen were no longer lounging around. They were watching them much too closely.

"Leaving."

"Daniel. We have probable cause." Steve had missed the covert use of his last name and remained puzzled by the sudden change in plans.

"Steven. Get in the car." The pointed stare threw daggers in his direction as Danny repeated the demand before sliding behind the wheel. He didn't wait to start the engine of the Camaro and Steve shook his head when it lurched into drive as he heard the idle change.

The car started moving almost before he could slam the door closed. "He's hiding something or someone and we have _probable cause_. It's already a crime scene! _Our_ crime scene!"

"Agreed. But we need backup." Danny's voice was all wrong and very, very low. Steve heard him then with the intentional use of his last name. Glancing up briefly to the side view mirror, Steve registered the vicinity of the workmen. Danny was talking quickly while he moved them to safety and a better position.

"Where did these guys come from .. where's their work truck or van? That man in there is no foreman. And there's an AK-47 up against the back wall in the apartment. At least one very powerful weapon. There might have been a second but I wasn't sure. We have one known man with Jameson and possibly a hostage or more gunmen. Plus we have the three outside." Danny was watching in his rearview mirror to see if the were being followed; relieved when he saw nothing in the first few seconds.

"AK-47's?" Steve quieted with a thoughtful look towards Danny. His partner had been living and breathing the case for weeks. Delving back into past records and an old unsolved murder, Steve knew that Danny was crunching through mental data and making any variety of accurate associations. "They must have parked a bigger vehicle out by the highway and come in the back way. We need to get a cruiser or two over there to check out the vantage point." Already contacting the station while speaking, Steve made his demands to HPD for assistance and backup.

"We don't know why they are really here or what else they might have brought with them. On top of it, we have a civilian upstairs." Danny knew that Steve had no time to read his latest report from that morning in detail and the pieces were coming together so amazingly fast, his head was spinning. A very, very long time ago, the elder had been a pyromaniac and he remembered the caustic, incendiary smell from working as a volunteer with his father a few summers in the fire department.

"Jameson was arrested for arson in his youth and it didn't seem that important until now. He's got some sort of chemical in there. Did you smell anything funny?" He continued to watch the rearview mirror and Steve was partially turned as well to look back.

"Not exactly. No." Steve admitted about smelling anything other than the cooking from the upper apartment.

"I don't remember the name. But it's a incendiary .. burns hot and fast. I swear that I smelled it either on him or in the room."

Steve's cell phone interrupted them as Danny was rapidly explaining what he saw and sensed in the apartment. "Kono? What's up? What's the story with Michael Jameson?" Steve asked as he put the call on speaker.

_"Actually, he's missing. He was scheduled for a weekend shift, disappeared during his Sunday morning break, and never came back. He then was due to work 5 o'clock this morning. He still hasn't shown up."_ Kono was worried about their findings.

_"The dock foreman said that Michael needed the money and was a hard worker. His take on him is much different than what we've found in his files."_

"His message to me was left Sunday morning. I wasn't able to reach him after he left it." Danny confirmed, as he slowed the car to park along the side of the road and just out of sight of Vernon Fields. "Ten to one something happened to him during that break."

_"The foreman is actually concerned about him. He's had his issues, but Michael Jameson is well-liked on the job." _Kono confirmed.

It was a long ride to meet them, but Steve ordered both Chin and Kono to begin the drive to Vernon Fields. "Something is up here and we are waiting for HPD support now. The old man seems to be our prime suspect now; he's definitely hiding something and it's likely that his son is actually in the apartment with him."

Steve ended the call and as Danny reiterated a few other facts. A spent cigar had also been found near the body from the now 16-month old and currently unresolved dockside murder. Eric Jameson was a veritable chimney; the cigar found by the parking area was too coincidental. The brands were identical; of that Danny was positive based upon Max's preliminary reports.

It was suspicious that Max had asked for additional samples and fibers that very morning; he had obviously found something of import and was working diligently. Within hours, they would have the DNA proof they needed. In addition, both CSU and Max were checking the blood found on the leaf, but Danny knew for certain it would belong to one of the two dead men.

Eric Jameson was a murderer and his son could be an accomplice – or even the potential hostage since anything was possible at that point. If Danny was right, father and son could be working together or in any case, he and Steve would be woefully at a disadvantage with a minimum of four additional hired guns. But before he could turn off the Camaro to wait for that backup, Danny caught sight of a slender black line of smoke in the air. Then another thicker puff of black and gray burst into the sky which held a frightening tinge of yellow.

"We've got another problem." With a civilian definitely involved and a possible hostage at risk, Danny reversed direction to return to Vernon Fields. They would have to go in cautiously, but the tide had suddenly turned and they were forced to respond.

"It's on fire .. he's burning it to the ground."

Next to him, Steve was multi-tasking as he readied some gear in the front seat and put in additional emergency calls to HPD and now the fire department. Knuckling the dashboard, his eyes widened as they rocketed back to the parking lot. "Wait! Stop!"

"What?" Following the command, Danny skidded to a stop in middle of the narrow tertiary road. Steve was gesturing towards Vernon Fields and the men lying in wait.

"Stop here. We'll be setting ourselves up for a trap if we drive back into that parking lot."

Danny nodded as he backed the Camaro up and found a better place deeply in the shade on the shoulder of the road. The two exited the vehicle and took more supplies, including a fire extinguisher, from the trunk. They would go through the heaviest brush and trees as they approached the small complex this time on foot. Time was of the essence as another plume of blackish smoke drifted into the sky.

As he plowed through the gear, Danny realized that he was slamming things home with a practiced ease and by a learned rote. It was to be expected. However, he was faster and more efficient than he ever had been since working on the Five-0 task force which certainly kept him on his toes. Extra magazines for both pistol and rifle, back-up revolver, cuffs, zip ties, Stinger flashlight, and a knife - much unlike Steve's preferred tool. Where his brain nearly stuttered at the thought, his fingers were automatically nimble as Steve did the same while adding a few of his favorite, personal extras.

Deeply pensive, Danny triple-checked his gear and selected a rifle as his new primary. It was then that Steve noticed Danny's movements were almost resentful as he readied his equipment and extra weapons.

"You good?" Danny gave a curt nod before almost coldly asking Steve the same question. He was abrupt and distinctly on edge as they were forced to act early without HPD's or their team-mates' assistance.

Steve saw that resentment for what it really was - a keen concern mixed with Danny's unwavering dedication and he smiled reassuringly. "Terra firma, Danno. It's all good!"

"Really? You're going to say that to me at a time like this?" Danny's eyes widened as Steve stomped both booted feet in place on the side of the road to prove his point before grinning at Danny's disgusted grimace. He was thinking and internalizing so loudly, Steve didn't actually need him to voice his next complaint.

"That's not funny. Not at all."

Small puffs of dirt rose around Steve's boots from the sun-baked dirt which did nothing to make Danny feel better. With another grin for Danny's benefit, they took off side by side towards the burning building.

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	16. Chapter 16

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes: **I had an annoying day - no results; many errands; much personal angst. Still thinking 'no news is good news' though. I will be having Hershey's Capuccino Crunch Ice cream in mere seconds as a consolation gift. Hmm .. or maybe Cookies N Cream fudge ripple. Or both .. one never knows how dangerous it may get in the kitchen. However, sometimes annoying days also mean extra chapter postings since it feels good to hit that 'ol _post new chapter_ button.

Yeah this is a cliffie though. Saber-toothed bunny is well in charge now. So you KNOW they are NOT in the clear, right? And the DWOCD addiction is a personal issue, so Steve may be whumped at the moment. However ... well ... share and share alike!

Also, does a pyromaniac ever leave after setting a blaze? Theory says no because they like to watch their nasty little creation. Eric Jameson has not left the property - oh, oh!

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

**Chapter Sixteen **

They skirted the property with guns drawn, staying low and trying to sight any activity. The parking lot was empty but for Jameson's dilapidated truck and the old, beat-up tenant's Honda. Black smoke was starting to billow out more ferociously from the rear, main floor apartment through partly opened windows and seams in the walls. Except for that, the rest of the building was currently untouched and free from harm. Choosing the front door which could also lead them upstairs to the tenant, Steve and Danny entered quietly and quickly.

No one was there. At least at first blush. Remaining cautious, Danny and Steve tried the doors and then forced them open for the two lower level occupied apartments. They cleared each in seconds, relieved to find them empty for the day. Smoke was beginning to fill the hallway from under the rear vacant apartment. It was pitch black, oily and Danny knew what lay behind the door without needing to look.

"Upstairs." Danny gestured that he would go and mimed that Steve wait below. The one other Vernon Fields tenant was still there. They could barely smell the cooking sauce, but the music and raucous, happy singing was scarily oblivious to the danger below. Steve went cautiously down the now smoky hall with both his weapon and the fire extinguisher to stand watch. Danny bounded up the stairs to the second floor towards the scent of sauce and sounds of the music and the horrifically booming off-tune singer.

"Hey! Five-0! There's a fire in the building!" Danny fisted the door three times before simply kicking it open on the startled middle-aged man who stopped singing and nearly fell back into his steaming pot of pasta sauce. The wine glass he was holding crashed to the ground as he brandished the wooden spoon in self-defense.

"Fire! Get out of the building! Is there anyone else here?" The man gaped as he stared at Danny's full tactical gear and the impressive weapon he held in his hand. He shook his head _no_ about other people but still seemed wholly unable to move. "OUT!"

Danny moved to grab the man, but he dodged him to snatch up two, thick cooking mitts and then the double handles on the tall kettle. "I want my sauce!"

"What? Leave it!" He couldn't believe it as the tenant practically used the piping hot pot as a shield and refused to budge.

"No!" Eyes bulging, the man was near tears but determined to hang on to his precious gourmet creation. "I'm not leaving without my sauce!"

"For the love of god! Fine .. go, go, go!" Ushering him first down the stairs, Danny aimed the man out the front door. "Now, go ... and keep going!" The lower level had already become heavily smoke-festooned and the man began to talk gibberish as he hurriedly half-ran with his sloshing bubbling pot of sauce to the far side of the parking lot.

"Steve!" Incredulous for a minute, Danny watched the man get away with his priceless cooking before trying to peer down the hallway. "Hey, Steve!" But he couldn't see a thing as the smoke became much more dense. He coughed as he readied his rifle once more and edged down the hallway.

"Here! It's clear ... they're gone." The scratchy-voiced return bellow of sound made Danny sigh in relief. He caught up to his partner as Steve was putting his shoulder to the door which seemed to be stubbornly wedged closed. Danny took a few moments to stand between him and the door with a warning hand on Steve's chest. He had seen fires like this before and was extremely concerned about what was happening on the inside of the room.

"We need to get out of here. The one tenant is outside already." Danny eyed the dark, sooty color of the smoke that was roiling from under the door and through its cracks. "Whoever is in there is toast and we don't have the right gear. We need to find Jameson and his people."

Steve stopped as his arms dropped limply to his side. He had heard the faint shouts for help when he first got to the apartment. Feeble and growing more quiet as time ticked by and he was now uncertain about leaving. Danny was also torn as he frowned and put his hand on the hot wood. A small tickle settled in the back of Steve's throat and he coughed once to clear it. But the acrid odor was becoming worse.

"Somebody is in there." He saw the desperate worry in Danny's eyes and he had no immediate answer as a sharp crack sounded over head. The fire had worsened considerably and the calls for help had diminished and then stopped entirely. The loud splintering sound of sorely weakening wood made them both react in tandem as the two stopped speaking to use their shoulders in an attempt to barrel down the apartment door which was already hot to the touch. There were no fire alarms, the sprinkler system never engaged and the one Vernon Fields fire extinguisher in the hallway seemed to be empty when Steve pulled it of the wall.

"Not yet .. we can't. I heard him, Danny. He was calling for help." Even if they were able to get the door opened, they only had the small canister from the car to fight the growing inferno. Danny made a face as the smoke thickened and the heat began to creep into the hallway. The chances of someone surviving on the inside had grown more and more dismal and all he could now hear was the roar of flames and the crackling or splintering of wood.

"None of it works!" Steve complained as he tossed the useless Vernon Fields extinguisher to the ground and tried again to force the door open. His cough worsened as a fist-sized pain settled in his sternum when the smoke irritated his still highly sensitive lungs. Danny was beginning to cough more frequently, too and he pulled on Steve's arm after joining him in one final attempt. It was no use and they needed to salvage what they could.

"Come on .. let's go!" Danny had his rifle slung over his shoulder by that point. Steve's was resting against the wall with their own much smaller fire extinguisher; but both were in easy reach. However, he had seen Steve's face change and knew that something more was bothering him. It was a pure physical distress that became apparent when he fisted the space between his throat and collar of the tac-vest.

"Steve .. you can't be in here. Let's get out now. I don't think .. anyone could survive in there .. we're too late." Newly worried about his partner's healing lungs and beginning to hack more heavily, Danny turned to leave but stumbled to a halt at Steve's harsh shout. The weak calls had started again and this time Danny also heard the plaintive and weak cries for help.

"Oh man." Danny fisted his hands in frustration as the faint pleas reached them separated only by a few inches of walled plaster. It changed things again and Danny started to pound on the door in earnest. "He is alive. We have to get him out if we can."

"I'm going around - stay here. We'll get it ...from both sides." Steve had re-slung his weapon over his shoulder and then had picked up the old non-working fire extinguisher. He thoughtfully hefted it in his hands and without looking back, was well on his way outside through the broken rear emergency door.

"Hey, no! Both sides? Wait!" Forced to abandon his plan, Danny was nearly apoplectic as Steve disappeared on him out the broken, rear door. "Steve! Come .. on! You can't do this!"

The crash of smashing glass from the inside of the apartment was instantaneous. It stopped Danny in his tracks just as he reached the emergency door to follow his partner. It drew him back towards the apartment as a heavy retching cough emanated from inside the room followed by Steve's ragged shouts.

"Danny .. I'm in!"

"I'm going to kill him. I swear that I am so going to kill him!" Danny's voice failed him as the next inhale brought the rising smoke into his lungs. He coughed and gagged while pounding on the door in time to Steve's muffled voice.

"Danny! He's .. here. I almost have.. him." The moan was faint but near the tiny kitchen and he zoned in on it. Steve's throat was already bitterly sharp as he gagged and the lump in his chest seemed to painfully expand. He had used the old extinguisher to break the bay window knowing it was a straight line to the front door. Using the crook of his elbow in a vain attempt to breathe more carefully, he used his own Stinger flashlight to narrow his line of sight. But the room was an inferno. Heat touched his face and soaked into his clothing as he crouched down and peered through the murky smoke inch by harrowing inch.

Then he saw him. Bound and on his side, the man was semi-conscious and moaning in a fearful panic.

"There you are." His voice was nearly gone as he heaved the barely conscious and bound man towards the door. Flames were licking up the wall and spreading across the ceiling in a red and yellow display. It was almost mesmerizing until Steve saw the beam that had cracked in half to block the one and only main door. It was the main reason they couldn't get in to the apartment. Dragging the man closer, he put his shoulder to the splintered wood and with a thundering crack, managed to move it away. From the opposite side, he could hear Danny calling for him and using his body to forcibly try to get the door to open.

"Got .. him! Danny .. he's here!" Steve pulled and tugged on the now warped door which was refusing to open for that new reason. Pressure from above had sagged the frame and begun to damage the hinges. But his voice was enough for Danny to take up their smaller fire extinguisher in an attempt to use it as a battering ram. On the opposite side, Danny jarred his hands and arms as he slammed the metal can into the door again and again, faintly pleased as it began to splinter the wood and edge open the old hinges.

"Steve! Damn it .. Steve! Open the damn door!" He knew Steve was right there on the other side as the coughing increased and another loud crash sounded. The damaged door opened sloppily on its hinges just as Danny bodily flung himself and the dented extinguisher into it. Falling into Steve, Danny dropped the canister and fisted Steve's vest in a fury.

"What the hell? Just _what in the hell_ are you thinking!" Eyes burning with rage, Danny pushed Steve back a step with both hands heedless now of the thick smoke and oily smell and taste that was settling on his tongue and in his nose. Whatever incendiary the old man had use burned hot and was extremely acrid; just as he had remembered and time was definitely running out.

"Damn it Steve! Why do you always ... do that? What do you ... think .. you're doing? Get the ... hell out of here!" His voice was damaged and broken from a throat stained by smoke and now heat.

Already unsteady on his feet, Steve stumbled as Danny unexpectedly came at him through the front door. Half catching his partner and half protecting himself from the unanticipated fury, Steve was forced to recover as Danny physically tried to yank him back towards the hallway. His eyes were red as they teared madly from smoke and heat, and his chest was now burning from the immediate stress of the hazardous lack of air.

"Hostage." Steve gagged and nearly vomited on the spot as he resisted Danny's hands and fell to his knees. Pulling Danny down with him, he fumbled for the man's arm. Unwilling to go too far, Danny followed Steve's hands until he connected with fabric and then a limp hand.

"Here!" Danny lurched forward blindly searching for the person's torso. The fire was burning hotly as flames lapped up the walls and spread across the ceiling to the upper floors. Danny looked up in horror as the floor to the upper apartment began to cave in the ceiling over the small kitchen. Using all his strength, Danny fisted Steve's shirt sleeve with one hand and began dragging the unconscious bound hostage backwards and towards the hallway door.

"Pull." He panted for help and then gagged on an inhale just as he felt Steve join sluggishly in his efforts. Almost silently except for ragged breaths and painful bouts of coughing, the two worked together to get Eric Jameson's son into the hallway. They were on their last legs by the time they got the few feet needed, but the apartment was already decimated and the inferno was rapidly taking over the rest of the building.

Their moves became frantic as they automatically came to the same conclusion. The old emergency door was closest and Steve used his body to prop it open where they could feel the tease of cooler, fresher air on their backs. The deep pressure in his chest intensified and his vision grayed for a moment only to clear to find Danny an inch from his nose.

"Steve!" Despite the smoke-stained soot covering his face, Danny's eyes were lined with worry and tell-tale stress. His hand was cupped behind Steve's neck as he tried to keep him conscious and on his feet for the few more seconds they needed. Through his hand, Danny could feel his worse struggle to breathe as they knelt together in the hallway with the bound and injured hostage between them.

"We're right here now ... but stay low. Pull." As with Steve, Danny's face was covered by smudged black streaks and his lungs weren't much better off as he tried to do two jobs at once. Giving his neck one last squeeze, Danny released him to renew his efforts with the yard now only a few short feet away.

"Go. Air .. get out .. move."

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	17. Chapter 17

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes:** thank you for the continued very fantastic reviews!

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

**Chapter Seventeen**

Hidden in the trees near the short path to the parking area off the highway, Eric Jameson and his well-armed men were watching the fiasco. At least his men were as they waited for their boss to decide on their next steps. He had smiled gleefully after seeing the dark-haired officer virtually stumble out the rear of the building and then around to the apartment's thick glass window. Jameson's entire demeanor and rapt expression were entirely unrecognizable as compared to the hateful man Steve and Danny had so recently questioned.

He had especially appreciated the physical strength used against the window. The loud sound of breaking glass was satisfying and he was completely impressed by the man's sheer lack of fear as he lunged through the thick smoke that suddenly billowed out the new opening to reach high into the sky. The sight was utterly spectacular.

And now, Jameson was in love with the flames as they began to make it out to the external structure, too. They had reached the second floor and were licking the shingles and roof from both inside and outside. He stood riveted and only barely out of sight as the shadows flickered and glowed over his face and with gratification, he breathed in the thick stench of burning wood. He and his men had not seen the Five-0 cops for many long minutes, but he still waited patiently.

"We should leave now." The fake foreman's name was Al Harris and he stood calmly while holding his fully loaded AK-47. "They're not coming out."

"It's a beautiful thing." Eyes brightly twinkling, Eric Jameson held up his hand as way of disagreeing. "Isn't it just a very, very beautiful thing?" He was muttering to himself with a happy sense of personal pride at his accomplishment.

"Sure, it's a good one." Harris confirmed with an obligatory nod. He gazed at the height of the flames and thick smoke before realizing that this time, he was indeed very impressed. Harris was watching the time though and gauging when help would likely arrive. Based on the odd sounds of traffic on the highway, gawkers had already begun to see the smoke, slow down and perhaps were adding their own 911 calls to the system.

"E.J" He used the elderly man's nickname to get his attention, however succeeded only partially in bringing him back down to earth. "Boss ... E.J. ... we really need to get going before more cops arrive. This is going to draw a lot of attention."

"But .. yes, we will leave .. let's be certain first though. Just a few more minutes." Harris rolled his eyes mockingly. Jameson didn't want to be certain, he only wanted to watch his blazing inferno. He grinned sardonically at his second and then rolled his eyes again. His second, laughed out right. They had all witnessed their boss's crazed obsession many times in the past.

As soon as he finished speaking, the rear door opened again and he grinned when he saw the two Five-0 men. They were obviously in distress and in a great deal of trouble. But that grin faded when he saw that they had in fact, rescued his son. His posture immediately returned to that of his prior ill-will and he spat out his next orders in unconcealed rage.

"I want them dead. I want them _all_ dead now."

His orders were acted upon immediately as Al Harris gestured to each of this underlings to take up particular positions. "Keep them in the building or kill them."

After that, the spatter of gunfire began.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

The old emergency door was closest and Steve used his body to prop it open where they could feel the tease of cooler, fresher air on their backs. The bullet pinged the door frame nearest Steve's vested back just as he stood a bit straighter. Shocked by the unexpected attack, he still reacted immediately by crouching back down with his gun drawn.

"What the hell! Sniper!" His voice was garbled as he choked around the words. Caught up in the rescue, Danny was still resolutely pulling and tugging Michael Jameson's bound body backwards as he also heaved in much too little oxygen through the ever-thickening smoke. He heard the second dangerous ping though, and then three more. Danny also heard raspy Steve's curse and nearly fell when he briefly abandoned their victim, and turned to sight their attacker or attackers.

Steve couldn't see anyone but knew that Jameson and his hired guns were lurking and watching from the confines of the treed area. He was stunned as he sank lower to try and see with heat and smoke-fatigued eyes. With nowhere to go, it was clear that Jameson intended to keep them exactly where they were or drive them back into the burning building. No matter where they went, he and Danny would be sitting ducks.

He forced his eyes to work as more shots pelted the scrubby grass at the landing to the lawn and then even more around the exit doorway. But he was woozy and unbalanced as the sharpness settled more dangerously in his chest. Steve felt his lungs beginning to object to each and every minor breath he attempted to draw in. Doctor Ramirez was going to kill him if Danny didn't first .. or maybe Jameson this time. After Danny's last issue with him, maybe he should let Jameson kill him. Steve huffed at the idea and then coughed as he pushed that arbitrary thought into the back seat as adrenalin and training moved him forward despite his physical condition. Even light-headed, Steve was persistent in his objective.

"Danny ..trees.. stay down!" They were just on the lintel now between fire and daylight when Steve cursed again and then reared to his feet with one hand anchored to Danny's arm. Using all his strength, he heaved Danny who was still doggedly attached to their victim, over the door frame and towards the grassy landing. Though still too close, his tenacity won out as they all cleared the last few feet of the building and Steve crumpled to his knees.

"Keep him covered .. I got them!" Steve ground out through a tight cough and then he was gone at a lurching half-run before Danny could object. With a fierce determination, Steve dove towards the old picnic table and capsized it on end to offer protection as he returned fire into the tree-line. His first true volley of return fire was amazingly rapid and aggressive as he peppered the bushes, trees and the breadth of the open mouth to the short trail. There was a shout of pain and then another. He'd hit at least one mark once or maybe even twice and Steve managed to feel a small amount of satisfaction. He then used that element of surprise to hunker down below the table with his eyes closed to wheeze in strangled bits of air and still his heart.

Behind him, Danny remained with Michael Jameson and on his own shaky knees while trying to also achieve a line of sight.

"Wait! Steve. Damn it .. _Steve_!" His voice was damaged and too raspy to rise more than a whisper above the burning building. What he tried to say never reached Steve's ears. Despite a rain of bullets that missed him by a hairs-breadth, Danny was forced to focus on getting their victim further away the building. As Danny registered the increasing exchange, it was more apparent that Steve was drawing Jameson's gunfire directly to his small hiding place and Danny began to groan in frustration and worry. Regardless, he knew that he needed to take advantage of the time.

"Come .. on!" He coached himself but couldn't go any faster as he painfully heaved Michael another good two-feet away from the rear emergency door before he heard it. There was a subtle click, snap and then a deepening yaw from the old building followed by a loud whoosh as air sucked past them back into the cavernous center that had opened up. The building sounded angry and resentful as it felt the impending explosion and knew it would soon collapse on itself.

"Shit." Danny froze for a shocked moment to glance once down to the unconscious Michael Jameson as the air whistled past and then stilled ominously. Thanks to his father and summers of volunteer work at the fire department, Danny knew what was happening almost instinctively. He was in a bad position and had zero choices to make with virtually no time left.

"Back draft. Move, Williams! Move!" Danny coached himself as he gagged and chanted while giving one more valiant effort in hauling Michael Jamesons' limp body physically backwards and towards the middle of the grassy area. He was too far from the over-turned picnic table and what little distance he achieved wasn't entirely enough to escape the building. He never made it to his next goal of throwing himself protectively over Jameson's upper body. What Danny had failed to achieve in gaining ground, the nature of combustion finished as the resulting fiery explosion of heat and air blew him back the rest of the way across the yard along with chunks of flaming wood and debris.

The flash over settled him like a rag doll closer to Steve than he would have guessed possible. The explosion left him lying on his back, spread-eagled, utterly spent and bewildered by what had just occurred. His brain refused to work as he stared blankly at the oddly colored sky and inhaled only soot and the thick odor of black smoke. He turned his head slowly to the left and winced as pain spiked into his head and neck. Blearily and confused, he studied the badly injured man lying many feet away from him.

At first he was sure it was Steve and couldn't take his eyes off the trussed up and injured man. Big, young and a face he eventually recognized, but from his case files. That realization led his feeble memory to produce the first name of '_Michael'_. He sighed in relief around the scratchy pain in his throat as the pain in his head intensified and he allowed his eyes to close on their own.

Steve was returning his own salvo at will when the explosion occurred. The loud boom from behind his back had him reflexively ducking down and sighting for trouble from an entirely different direction. Stunned, he caught the tail-end of Danny being blown backwards along with flaming pieces of wood that flew through the air and littered the ground like shrapnel. His rifle had been torn from his grip to lay uselessly in the grass many feet away. He was well separated from their victim who was absolutely unmoving as grass and debris smoldered around him. The new silence was deafening and it took him a good many seconds to find his voice.

"Danny! Danny .. answer me!" The raw voice and lack of a decent lungful of air prevented Steve from truly calling out. Danny was lying just a few feet now off to Steve's right and completely out in the open. Motionless and on his back, his head was turned at an angle where Steve couldn't see his face and his shouts went unanswered.

The explosion had been so shocking, even the criminals had momentarily ceased fire from their location in the short stand of trees. It's terrible, unexpected beauty had pulled Eric Jameson from his hiding place in an awed thrall.

"Did you see that?" He murmured while gesturing grandly to his destruction. "Did you actually .. _see_ that .. grand fireball! Did you hear its voice?"

"Boss! E.J.!" Harris hissed as he quickly moved forward to yank him back under cover. He had a badly wounded man and not enough time. His boss's obsession was going to be the end of all of them at this rate. "Don't be so stupid!"

Motioning to the men, he divided the remaining two. He had one begin to drag the injured man to the waiting van. He and the last would take advantage of the natural catastrophic distraction. They didn't have long now and he felt the time crunch in his chest as he began to hear the distant wail of sirens. Keeping Eric Jameson to his rear, Harris primed his assault rifle and nodded his readiness to his remaining man.

"We have sixty seconds to finish the job .. finish it now. Then we go!"

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	18. Chapter 18

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes: ** I had no notes for this chapter until I watched **Akeelah and the Bee** - super movie! One of the very last words in the spelling contest was: **Logorrhea**. Defined as excessive and often incoherent talkativeness or wordiness. A tendency to extreme loquacity. "Logorrhea" was the word spelled by Nupur Lala to win the 1999 E. W. Scripps National Spelling Bee, the subject of the 2002 documentary _Spellbound_. It has also a rather serious psychological disorder definition which should not be taken lightly.

And now you have a trivia for the day to ponder!

Hmm. For the minor definition though, I did make an association obviously - though incoherent doesn't quite fit, excessive wordiness and loquacious certainly do.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

**Chapter Eighteen**

In a fugue, Danny had in fact heard Steve shouting as more distantly muffled gunfire erupted nearby. His sole feeling was one of complete relief.

_"Not Steve."_ The body wasn't Steve .. it was a suspect .. no, a victim named _Michael_. He heard Steve again but still couldn't respond; in fact, he didn't even think to respond. It was good enough to know that the body wasn't his partner's.

Whatever little air had been pushed from his lungs and as he regained his sense of being, he realized that his head hurt and he couldn't focus his eyes. His vision was blurred and wavering in and out at a startling rate. But he jolted as a series of loud pops sounded near him and puffs of grass flew up by his right shoulder and then arced in the grass down to his limp hand. More bullets traced a line towards the unconscious Michael Jameson. Instead of moving, Danny merely flinched away as he struggled to take in an unpolluted breath of air.

_Not Steve_ because he had left again; dimly he considered it possibly divine luck because he, Danny, was incapacitated and out in the open with another victim. Wholly unable to help himself, a civilian, or his partner but wherever Steve had gone .. he evidently was mostly fine and still holding their position or he wouldn't be yelling so very loudly.

Steve cursed as the gunfire resumed - this time, aimed directly at his downed partner and the injured hostage. The trussed up man wasn't moving at all, but Steve at least saw Danny twitch ever so slightly when a round nailed the ground much too close to his hand. Dead or alive, Jameson was playing with them and taking pot shots.

Steve gauged the distance and timing from the safety of the upturned table to each man. Their victim was far away and nearer the now defunct koi pond. His legs stuck out but his upper body was at least partially protected by the old shallow rock wall. Danny was completely out in the open though and he absolutely needed to take the chance. Sticking low to the ground, Steve kept an anxious ear to the yard as he crawled to his partner. The stressful movement brought another bout of coughing to his seared lungs, but adrenalin took charge and he turned his rifle on their attackers before hastily using the time for himself. Tearing off his gloves, Steve remained on his belly as he gently turned dug his fingers into the side of Danny's neck. Bullets rained around them again, and Steve gasped as something sheered hotly through his left arm to leave his fingers nearly numb.

"Come on, pal. Danny!" With an effort, Danny opened his eyes when he heard the raspy similarly smoke-rattled voice still from afar when in actuality, Steve was now right above him and staring down with a frantic expression. He was trying to get him to move as more bullets peppered the lawn where they lay. He furrowed his brow in confusion and continued to stare even after Steve gasped and winced in pain.

"Come on. Danny, time to get up!" Arms lifted him into seated position while he bonelessly flopped forward. He gasped and saw spots as a pain shot through his neck and shoulders. There was another loud grunt from Steve as he paused for a mere second before clasping his hands together around Danny's chest. It was all very strange and Danny could do nothing to help as he felt himself being dragged backwards to eventually sit propped up against the top of the picnic table.

Danny sat there in a daze as Steve returned fire once again when yet another rapid spat of pops resulted in more flying tufts of dirt and grass. A few more, peppered the top of the table and Steve was forced to duck down next to him.

"Hey. You ... okay?" Voice barely above a whisper, Steve's face was lined with dirty, smoky lines made worse by rivulets of sweat and tearing eyes. It was obvious that Danny was far from fine. Neither was Steve as he fisted the numb fingers of his left hand over and over as if stung by a bee. It was an unconscious repetitive motion as he glanced at Danny and then over towards the tree-line. There was a moment of silence and Steve choked and coughed as a new solid wall of pain assailed him through his mid-back area. Two other bullets had pummeled heavily into the back of his vest just as he had begun to drag Danny to safety, and he was slowing down considerably.

"Where are you hurt?" Still stunned by the concussive explosion, Danny stared dumbly at him as his ears whined and strained to hear correctly. His expression was blank as Steve's right hand entered his line of sight and disappeared for a minute. When he saw it next, the fingers were blood-stained and Steve's worry had escalated.

"Danny? Say something ... anything." His head, neck and shoulders ached severely as his eyes slowly tracked from the blood-stained fingers to the blood running down Steve's bicep and then finally to his face. He moved his mouth but no sound came out and Steve's frown worsened.

Swallowing carefully around the dryness in this throat, Danny tried to form a question of his own and failed. "_What_?" The word came out as more of a harsh puff of stilted air. Danny looked at Steve's rifle and then his own empty, lax hands and came up with an unhappy scowl. Where had his weapon gone off to?

"Gun? My .. gun." Still woozy and feeling like he wasn't part of the scene, Danny managed a raspy whisper while he squinted at Steve and forced his uncooperative hand towards his holster. He felt Steve intercept and then hand him his weapon after making sure the safety was off and it was fully loaded. Jameson's gunfire had resumed to pelt their tiny hiding area to keep them low and at a disadvantage. He needed to get his act together.

Danny resolved himself to that but frowned again when he noticed that Steve's hand was still covering his own. He was completely covering the fingers that shakily held his own gun. Confused, Danny looked up at his partner again to rasp out a few words. "What? What's .. wrong?"

"Can you do this?" Steve asked worriedly. Danny was clearly out of it and badly addled by the force of the explosion. But Steve needed his help and he sighed in relief when heard a multitude of faintly sounding sirens over the din of the blaze behind them as their desperately needed assistance made it to their location. They were approaching from two different directions; the tertiary road where the Camaro had been parked, as well as from the highway. Jameson and his cohorts evidently heard the sirens too, based on the momentary lull in the shooting.

"Danno?" He squeezed the back of Danny's hand and got him to focus before repeating his question. "Can you do this?" For another long second, the buzzing in his ears made Danny sit there mutely before he nodded and rigid fingers tightened with determination around the nubby stock.

"Yeah .. I can. I'm .. good." Slowly releasing him, Steve studied Danny's face closely before shaking his head with worry and then eyed the distant treed area. He measured the angle and the distance to needed to swing around on the men. He focused solely on the landscape, terrain and potential distance between where he could take cover and ambush his enemy one by one. In the distance, the sirens were growing louder and one he was positive now, was on the main highway. Their arrival would put the criminals in the middle. Almost absently, Steve took Danny's arm and helped him to his knees behind the table where he wobbled unsteadily and bowed his head against the damaged wood to rest.

"Take it easy. Go slow, Danny." His whisper was low out of a pained necessity but Steve wouldn't have much time with his partner in such a state. He was sure his plan would work if Danny could provide cover fire just long enough for him to gain some ground. Blood was dripping down from the thick crease in his arm; it rolled haphazardly to his elbow and Steve hissed when he awkwardly tried to rub at it. Pure adrenalin was pushing him ahead as he sighted movement near the narrow opening to the short path. The small dangerous group had yet to leave and something more aggressive needed to be done.

He watched Danny with concern as he blinked his eyes and regained some of his balance. He coughed harshly and shook his head as he turned clumsily to ready himself. Danny tried to take in a deep settling breath, coughed when his lungs seized, but nodded anyway that he was fine. Seconds later, the pair opened fired simultaneously into the deep brush from where Jameson and his partners were hunkered down. Steve thought he heard another garbled shout of pain and then was certain that the return barrage was half what it had been. They had once again managed to hit a mark and odds were slightly improving.

He glanced once more to the bowed head to watch Danny determinedly reload his weapon. Steve even managed a faint grin as Danny began shooting once more into the distant trees. He had picked the perfect low spot near that dirt path this time and was gamely making any potential movement towards them impossible. He seemed more steady even though his eyes were still not tracking well and he was often blinking as if to clear a constantly blurred vision.

Pausing, Danny palmed his forehead but didn't dare rotate his neck for the pain that was spreading down to his shoulders. He was only barely on his feet yet managing to do well enough as he gained some composure and balance. But with that steadiness, came a startling thought that Steve was in fact poised to attack. There was a change in the air next to him and Danny stopped to look. Steve was planning to leave him in the proverbial dust and Danny knew that this time for certain, he was in no shape to even try and join his partner. He also strongly doubted Steve's sturdiness as the SEAL winced in pain through a deep-chested coughing spasm which left him pale even for the dirt on his face.

"No." His sudden look towards Steve's odd posture proved it, and Danny frantically reached for his arm.

"No. No." He connected first with the stock of Steve's gun and then with all his might, dug his fingers into his wrist. "Stay .. here." He ground out the order through clenched teeth and a throat that was burning from acrid fumes.

"Danny .. " Steve started to argue his case as he failed in shaking Danny's white-knuckled grip off his hand. But what would he really have to explain?

"Don't you dare .. _dare_.. do anything stupid." Preparing to move as Danny so feared, some of the tightness left Steve's body as he relaxed into the grass and dropped lower behind the picnic table. With Danny's hand clasped to his wrist, Steve saw his partner's soot-stained but very pale expression and he understood clearly that Danny was petrified of him leaving once more to go after their attackers. Not for himself, but for Steve's own safety.

_"What were you thinking when you followed him?" _

Chin's old question echoed through his head as Steve muttered to himself in frustration. He had no answer then and he didn't actually have an answer now. Head the enemy off? Take them down? What exactly would he do without physical backup? With help so close ..what did he think he needed to achieve? Steve realized that he would have done it again; one against maybe up to four at amazingly bad odds if he timed it wrong.

_"If you're a liability to yourself, then you're a liability to me ..." _Danny's emotionally wracked but honest vent at Kamekona's. He had taken it the wrong way and thought Danny wanted out of their partnership or even worse, out of Five-0. Which obviously wasn't the case at all. It never had been.

Steve refocused on his partner's face as he felt the stunned, tremble in Danny's fingers vibrating into his arm. As partners, they needed to agree and act together .. feasibly not all the time, but Steve realized he had never even considered the how, why or what Danny might feel when he sometimes acted alone. As Chin had reminded him, Danny cared too much from beginning to end and he needed to take pause and just think ... every so often.

And truth be told after Chin's most sensitive of reminders, Steve didn't want to be that third lost partner for his friend - or for Grace. Softening, he sighed through a few harsh coughs. "Danny."

He was about to agree but Danny interrupted him as a few bullets pinged their way and lodged much too closely to their heads in the old wood of the picnic table. Neither of them flinched for the few seconds of eternity their conversation was lasting.

"Just .. don't. Don't you do it." Danny was almost hurting his wrist now as he stared directly into Steve's face. No longer hidden, all the fear, worry and paralyzing emotions came directly to the surface. He had a cut on his cheek, one on the back of his head, and was panting in a hard, shallow whistle of pain while searching Steve's eyes.

It was an odd combination of plea and demand for him to listen because it could turn out very badly. Plus with the sirens increasing in volume and help so close, he didn't really have to do it. Steve faintly nodded and breathed out his answer. "Alright, Danny."

"_Just listen for once .. one time, Steven._"

With that memory and the clearly same unspoken plea, Steve gave Danny a lop-sided grin and nodded soothingly. His posture changed to resume a more standard, tactical stance behind the table as he dropped a spent clip to engage a fresh one. With a supportive hand under his partner's arm, he helped Danny to a better position.

"Yes. Okay." Almost in disbelief, Danny blinked at him in shock at the agreeable reply. His fingers loosened from their death grip on Steve's wrist and he sagged onto his heels. "You got it, Danno."

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	19. Chapter 19

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes:** thank you for all the continued wonderful reviews! I appreciate them all as I slowly catch up on replying.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

**Chapter Nineteen**

Chin and Kono had heard the reports of a fire over the police radio while en route to Vernon Fields. They looked at each other in surprise before contacting emergency services directly and HPD central. Both confirmed the location and the two increased their haste when they also were unable to contact either Danny or Steve. Of course, they had already been on their way based upon Steve's orders. Their visit to the dock put them in a decent position to get them to the dilapidated apartment building a few minutes faster than other responders. Kono took advantage of it as she stuck to the main highway while driving even more aggressively through traffic. As they neared their destination, they could see the spiral of black smoke in the air and were also privy to civilian calls into 911 that described the strong fire and even an explosion.

"I'm sticking to the highway and that parking area. If I can find it." Kono remarked, as she and Chin rocketed down the shoulder. They had picked up two HPD cruisers who were in their wake with sirens blaring as well. Then, it wasn't too difficult to find it for the parked cars along the side of the road. All three of their units pulled in front of the small dirt-packed parking area and Chin demanded that HPD clear the onlookers and danger-seekers immediately.

"This is just going to cause more of a back-up and create the potential for an accident. Get them out of here. We need the room for emergency vehicles!" Chin was adamant as he grabbed his gear, including his shotgun from the trunk of Kono's car. Most onlookers were stunned by the large display as the team geared up and began to leave on their own, but others began taking even more pictures.

"Get them gone." He warned the young HPD officer who was jogging to each group of bystanders and demanding much more sternly that they all move on for safety's sake.

"Sir?" The voice came from a woman who was obviously more frightened than excited by what was happening. "I saw a man with a gun by that parked van. In fact, he threatened me with it and a few others. He's in the van with someone else and he seems to be waiting for something more to happen. A few of us heard lots of noise a few minutes ago - like more guns going off - down that little path where the fire is. It was like a thousand firecrackers."

She stopped speaking as her eyes widened and they could all hear the distant, powerful shooting. She grabbed his forearm and pointed. "There!"

He had vaguely wondered about it; why the parking area was nearly devoid of onlookers and he understood now. Besides rumor of the one armed man that the woman had personally seen, the noise had obviously scared enough people to keep them well away from the van, the parking area and fire itself. For that, Chin was almost grateful. But he caught Kono's eye worriedly as he wondered what had gone so terribly wrong in just a few short hours. Her eyes reflected the same deep concern for their continued inability to reach either Steve or Danny and she selected a second weapon with additional clips.

"We need to go, cuz." Kono had just slammed a fresh clip home and was bouncing on her toes to get moving. "Now. We need to go now."

Talking quickly while now on the run, Chin handed the helpful woman off to another HPD officer. "Thank you. I need you and everyone else here to leave. It's much too dangerous."

Studying the van, his orders were clipped and efficient as he constructed a plan to safely secure the vehicle and criminals inside. The two men were quickly brought into custody without so much as one shot being fired. One was badly injured and unconscious. The second was the man whom the woman had described and he bitterly surrendered when Chin, Kono and three of the HPD officers surrounded the van and issued their forbidding demands to comply. It took only seconds then for Chin and Kono to begin the short trek down the path towards the inferno and sporadic spats of gunfire. Staying low and nearly silent in their approach, they split up and took to the deeper brush.

There was a subtle bend in the dirt path. One that prevented a direct line of sight to the van and that was where they found the second injured man hop-scotching himself back to the parking area. He was out breath, wincing in pain and holding his fingers tightly to a badly bleeding leg wound. His own AK-47 was slung loosely over his shoulder and he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings.

"Hello, brah." Kono's whisper was harsh as she pounced out of her hiding place directly into his path. He almost fell in his surprise by the unexpected arrival of the black-clad, well-armed woman in front of him. Following her blithe welcome, the solid and immediate chop of her gun's stock into his face helped him fall the rest of the way to lay at her feet. Chin ducked out of his hiding place to help zip-tie the man and pull him under some ferns. Silently, they resumed their positions and continued on.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

Al Harris was furious. He dragged his last armed man to his feet and pushed him hard towards the direction of the waiting van. Though he could still function, a lucky shot had wounded the man in the upper thigh and he was bleeding heavily. Sirens were coming from a variety of directions now and civilians could potentially become so interested, they could have another problem on their hands by the parking area and egress to the highway.

"Get to the van. We will be right behind you."

Eyes lined with shocked pain, the man nodded and set off at a drunken, limping gait towards the small parking area. They were done and reinforcements were much too close.

"Boss. It's over. Let's go." He was stern this time and very brusque. Without waiting, Harris grabbed Jameson's thick upper arm and physically hauled him away from the fire and the two Five-0 officers. They had done their best, but needed to leave immediately before their escape was foiled.

"Did you get them?' The big man resisted because he was still enthralled with the flames and no doubt, he wanted to stay to see the now badly leaning building meet its final demise. He would also have much preferred to watch the fire trucks and emergency vehicles at their finest, too. But Harris now would have none of it.

He lied because he could see the occasional movement behind the over-turned picnic table. He also had no clue about Michael Jameson's fate, and could only assume the younger man had expired from smoke inhalation or during one of their barrages. But he essentially lied because he had no absolute proof and needed to get his boss and team out of there immediately.

"We did. All three are dead. Now let's go."

"Really?" The soft snarl was just a few feet behind him and Harris felt the shocked trill of surprise through to his finger tips. "They'd better not be."

Turning, he came face to face with an irate Asian man holding a powerful shotgun to his AK-47. "Five-0. Get rid of your weapons now, on you knees and lace your fingers behind your head. Cross your ankles."

Harris's shock became a renewed surge of anger but he had nowhere to go and less options. They had waited much too long this time. Being so close to the man, Harris stayed angry when he felt the subtle shift in his boss's body.

"E.J. Don't do it." He hissed in warning as he watched the elderly man's fingers flex once and then twice towards the snub-nosed revolver hidden near his left hip. Usually his tone would have been enough for the advice to sink home, but Jameson was determined. Standing sideways, Harris could see the glimmer of a sick smile and realized Jameson preferred to die rather than be taken.

Uncertain by what he was seeing and feeling, Harris could only oblige the Asian officer by tossing his AK-47 gently off to the far side of the path. Part of him thought that his boss would take that action as another type of advice, too. However, he was sorely mistaken. Besides uncaring of his own fate, Eric Jameson wasn't going to stop after the thrill of an exciting arson and its explosive near finale. He felt strong and nearly invincible as he casually dropped his hand to his belt loop. On one side he felt godly and yet on the other, he was fully willing to die that day.

Through the leaves of the tree, Eric Jameson took a final look at what he could see of his son's body. His eyes then flickered over the picnic table which hid two dead men, then to the smoldering grass and chunks of debris to finally rest on the glory of his amazing inferno; all were fitting epitaphs. He heard Harris, then the Five-0 officer, and ignored both of them completely as his smile deepened.

More to get out of the way of the inevitable than to actually appease the officer, Harris laced his fingers behind his head and took a large step left as he dropped to his knees. His eyes never left the Asian's taught angry face and it took him a moment to belatedly realize that the man was far from alone. Another figure was to his immediate left and the barrel of a rather impressive gun was aimed unerringly at his own head. His move had essentially invited the second officer to a guaranteed party at his ultimate expense.

His face hardened at his own stupidity made worse by a woman's bland and very dangerous chuckle of '_thank you_.'

"E.J., listen to the man." Frozen in place, Harris' eyes stayed straight ahead as he repeated his request. The Asian seconded his demand and yet, Eric Jameson still continued in his fatal quest. Not entirely stupid, Harris consoled himself because he felt that he had at least tried. So with an intake of breath, he tightened his laced fingers behind his head, and then closed his eyes as his long-time boss decided his personal fate.

A split second later, the shotgun blast went off with a loud reverberating concussion of sound. Harris flinched but held his submissive posture as he felt the blood spatter instantly spread over his neck, face and down the right side of his shirt. The hot, sticky feeling shocked his usually aloof temperament and he gagged on the stench before vomiting on the spot without even needing to look at Eric Jameson's blown out chest cavity.

Within moments, strong slim fingers were cuffing him and shoving him face down into the dry-packed dirt of the trail. A knee was anchored sharply into his back as at least three new officers surrounded him and the corpse.

"Get up!" The Asian was speaking to him and the knee was removed as he was hauled unresisting to his feet. Harris had to spit to clear his mouth from his own foul taste and bits of dirt. He coughed and blinked his eyes in surprise as the Asian officer grabbed him around the throat heedless of the gore. He gagged again as his air was brutally cut off and his cuffed arms were twisted behind his back. Nodding towards the bloody remains of Eric Jameson, the Asian made a promise to him.

"If they are dead .. you will never see the light of day."

None of the other HPD officers said a word when the threat was lobbied as a distinct vow of retribution. No one moved or seemed to care as Harris's eyes bulged and then watered alarmingly from lack of oxygen. He was released just before is rubbery legs could truly give out and Harris was left bent over and choking air back into his lungs. As two HPD officers took him in hand, he watched the officer and the petite Asian woman, who had obviously cuffed him, run towards the burning apartment building and downed men.

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	20. Chapter 20

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes**: darn saber-toothed bunny is still running loose ...that's all I can say!

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

**Chapter Twenty**

The report of the shotgun was unmistakable. It clearly solidified the reason as to why the shooting had indeed stopped and would never resume; at least when it came to Jameson's side of the equation. Canted on his heels Danny wobbled while staring at Steve with a continued look of unabashed surprise. Steve grinned back because despite suffering from smoke inhalation and being nearly rocked into oblivion, Danny was utterly speechless. And frankly, it had little to do with the fact that help had finally arrived.

"Okay." Danny's mouth quirked into a weak smile and then he tried to laugh around a hitch in his throat. His short _okay_ was more of a thankful cough. The severity of his expression and tense posture had altered so much, Steve swallowed hard around the scratchiness in his throat. That one gesture .. the simplicity of that one decision .. had been critically important to his partner.

Then the loud echo of the shotgun only seemed to compound Danny's honest relief as he whispered their team-mates' names through yet another series of shattering coughs which brought tears to his eyes. "Sounds ... like .. Chin .. Kono."

He managed to get the words out but he didn't recognize his own voice at that point. He and Steve were nearly mimicking each other's ragged breathing and pained coughing. Other sirens were approaching fast from the tertiary road and they could see the kicked up plumes of dust from the firetrucks and emergency vehicles which were soon to enter the dilapidated parking lot. The fluctuating shrill sounds were coming and going around him. It added to the sudden spiraling feeling as Danny watched Kono and Chin running towards them from the trees. He blearily saw other uniformed shapes and might have even recognized one or two of the distant HPD officers that had so quickly followed his friends. With the threat over, he was suddenly exhausted and wobbled again as he felt Steve's hand find his shoulder. But he suddenly couldn't focus his vision as pain spiked in his head and down through his neck and shoulders.

"Steve?" The soot-streaked face in front of him began to swim and ebb before him. Suddenly even more disoriented than before, Danny blinked in confusion as all of Steve's features merged into a haloed nondescript blur. He coughed and then winced as a lance-like hot pain stabbed through his head and down into his neck. Once that happened, his gun fell from his fingers and everything turned to black as he felt himself falling.

Steve saw the exhausted change and thinking he was simply relieved by the end of the standoff, placed a reassuring hand on Danny's shoulder. Unable to stop coughing himself, Steve continued to grin happily until he felt the vibration under his fingers become an all-out uncontrollable tremor. Danny paled and wheezed out his name just once before the brief smile left his face during a sharp spasm.

"Danny? What .. hey... are you okay?" The sudden blinding pain his friend experienced was evident and Steve gasped harshly as he watched Danny's eyes simply roll back in his head.

"Danny!" Despite the ache in his arm and what had settled like a concrete block in his chest, Steve caught Danny as he plummeted forward into his arms. Laying him down gently, Steve glanced up as Chin and Kono fell on their knees next to them. Kono immediately started unfastening Danny's vest to use it to elevate his legs.

"His pulse is too fast. He's not breathing well at all." She announced with fear in her voice. She took in their filthy clothing and smoke-stained faces before also seeing the third man lying nearby. They were close to the fire and she turned her attention back to Danny. Not seeing signs of any bullet wounds, Kono tentatively touched the bloody hair near the edge of the head wound. "What happened?"

"Explosion ... he got caught up in it." Still only able to whisper, Steve didn't realize he was trembling too as the adrenalin dump began in earnest. They both needed medical care, but he had never anticipated this with his partner. "Ambulance. Chin .. need .. ambulance. Head injury .. maybe more. Watch .. his .. head. There was an .. explosion."

Trying to explain it all at once and beginning to ramble, Steve only managed to begin wheezing more noisily himself. His face reddened immediately as he held a hand against the pain in his chest and fought the compulsion to cough more.

"Sit. Help's on its way. Breathe slowly .. just breathe. We'll take care of him." Chin was shushing him as he argued with Steve to also take a seat in the abused unkempt grass of the yard. Two other HPD officers were dropping down to the ground to care for Michael Jameson. With the utmost of care, they gently cut through his bonds and rolled him to his back to begin basic triage. One looked to Chin and nodded that the man was alive, though by his expression, it looked critical. The firetrucks were puling in now and firemen were quick to unfurl hoses and to not salvage the building per se, but to prevent the dangerous spread of more fire.

"Tell them ... building's ... empty." Steve demanded as the Chief came their way. But then he was back to Danny as Kono vainly tried to wake him. "Kono. How is he?"

"Sit down .. let me check you out. Kono's got Danny and everyone's doing their thing, Steve. Let them do it." Reprimanding him and interrupting Kono before she could reply, Chin focused on man-handling Steve first to a seated position, where he also removed his vest and then examined the deep crease in his arm. He sighed in relief when the bloody wound was truly just a deep gouge in his outer muscle. But Steve's breathing was decidedly labored and Chin became instantly concerned.

The Chief took in the scene with the three injured and turned to demand that additional medical supplies and oxygen be brought over to the yard. Their equipment would be much better than even what HPD carried in their own cars and in lieu of the still traveling ambulances.

"No one's in there?" Though no one could have survived at that point, nor would he have allowed his men to enter for the dangerous fire-trap it was, the Chief confirmed the fact through Steve's nod and Chin's verbal confirmation.

"Good. My men can get to work controlling this monster." He left again as three more of his men came running over with medical equipment, regulation oxygen tanks and masks. Chin took one offered for Steve and Kono sat back to watch the second fireman fastened the large mask over Danny's lax face. The third man was diligently attending Michael Jameson with the two HPD officers assisting, but it was clear that he was in the most distress as the fireman began chest compressions.

Groaning under his breath with unease, Chin looked from Jameson to Steve who was staring at Danny while he greedily wheezed in the clean air. His eyes were reddened and tearing madly from both smoke and the stress of coughing. The fireman helping stopped Steve from talking when he removed the oxygen mask to flush Steve's eyes thoroughly. The relief for that forgotten ache was nearly immediate as Steve sighed in relief before spasmodically coughing again. Left breathless and panting, he closed his eyes as the fireman wiped his face quickly with gauze before fastening the mask back in place.

That same fireman then left to care for Danny in the same way as he carefully lifted each of Danny's eyelids to flush any irritants away. The wash left long smudges of dirt from his cheeks and down into his hair in streaks of black wetness which the fireman tried to remove by once more using clean gauze over his face. Once he finished, he sat back and watched his peer finish examining Danny's head wound and noting vitals. Between the two of them, they at least had Danny looking a bit better after a thick bandage was applied to the deep slice in the back of his head.

Steve was completely distracted as he tried to hear what the firemen and Kono were softly conversing about. He nodded when asked if Danny had lost consciousness at any previous time or seemed unaware of his surroundings. More notes were jotted down and one was soon on his radio demanding status of the ambulances which suddenly seemed even more desperately needed. Then he never heard Chin's repeated questions about the potential for unseen injuries on his own body.

"Other than your arm .. where are you hurt? Steve? Point or nod. Steve?" When he didn't get an immediate answer, Chin held the tac-vest up and twisted it quickly to see the holes and silver slugs and grimaced. He intentionally moved into Steve's line of sight by flapping the vest almost in his face and fingering the two bullet holes.

"Steve. You took a couple of hits .. how's your back?"

"Yeah." Steve coughed raggedly while half-gesturing and down-playing the fact. His voice was muffled through the mask as the fireman insisted on keeping it against his face. "Building .. blew .. Danny was too close. It's okay. I'm okay."

Rolling her eyes at the normal bravado, Kono looked up from where she was continuing to care for Danny with the firemen. "Were you two in there? How long?" By Steve's face and continued hacking, it had definitely been much too long. Not so discreetly, Chin took Steve's pulse and was unhappy about the fast rate and what sounded to him like very distressed and congested breathing. On his knees, he moved to Steve's back and lifted his shirt to reveal two reddened marks.

"How do your ribs feel? Anything feel broken?" Chin pressed around his ribs and was relieved when Steve shook his head no. But he knuckled his sternum to weakly admit his originally damaged chest hurt. One of the fireman was half listening as the Five-0 officer got the Commander to share a bit more about what had happened on the property. It was clear both had issues from severe smoke inhalation but what he described next made the firemen truly stop and pay attention.

"Chest ... it's the smoke. From... the smoke." Pointing to Michael Jameson, Steve shortly explained how they'd had to get the hostage out and barely did in time. "Then .. it blew .. like a flash over. I thought a bomb ...had gone off." He was panting again as his breath wheezed in and out too shallowly.

"Okay, that's enough." Chin demanded as Steve stuttered on an inhale and rubbed his chest. "No more talking now. We got it, Steve."

"It was a backdraft." One confirmed with a worried frown. He glanced towards his own partner while gently palpitating Danny's neck, shoulders, torso and then each arm and leg. He murmured something about wanting a cervical collar and a backboard. Kono listened with a growing apprehension as the fireman radioed for two backboards; one for Danny and one for the critically injured Michael Jameson.

He tried to smile reassuringly at her as Danny moaned in pain. She held his hand but never stopped listening to the fireman's words as he continued to monitor Danny's pulse rate and poor respiration. It was obvious that he was troubled and even Steve had picked up on the vibe. He confirmed what his partner had said after looking at the debris field so close to them. "Definitely a backdraft. You can't get far enough away - fast enough - when the circumstances are right."

"Where's that ambulance?" Shocked over Danny's condition and by what she was hearing, Kono looked to each of them. The remote location of the apartment building plus the increase in highway traffic were the key issues and they could only wait at that point.

"It was a bear to get here .. but they're reporting an ETA of less than four minutes now. Maybe three; but wait .. something's wrong." The firemen looked up as the Chief came running back. He was on a dead run and gesturing to the building while simultaneously yelling into his command piece. What they couldn't hear from his lips, they heard directly from the firemens' radios.

"Get out of there! Move them now! You can't stay there. You have to move them now!" All eyes turned as one towards the severely tilted building where the frame was cracking, sagging and beginning to weaken badly. Neither Chin nor Kono had noticed if before and Steve definitely hadn't as he followed the Chief's steady hand. The rear corner where the blaze had first started was giving way at an alarming rate and when it collapsed, which would be soon, it would be much too close to their current positions in the yard. There was no time to wait for the backboards or extra hands as everyone able began to hastily mobilize.

"Chin .. get Danny .. get him out of here." Steve yanked the oxygen mask from his face as he virtually clawed up his friend's body. Without waiting, Kono traded places with Chin so he could help the fireman carry Danny between them. HPD officers had instructed each ambulance driver to come in off the highway and to park in the small area to avoid the hazards and time involved navigating the tertiary road. One had arrived and two more were slowly wending their way to the same location.

With that information, the two officers and the fireman with Michael Jameson shouted instructions to the others to follow them in a retreat towards the path and copse of trees. They did the best they could to jar Danny as little as possible as they steadfastly moved him across the yard and away from the collapsing apartment building. It was none too soon as the loud crack resonated behind them and the building began to shift like a house of cards on its foundation. Half collapsed in upon itself, while the remainder slid sideways and onto the grassy yard where Steve had earlier broken through the first floor window. Everything seemed to reignite again as flames, sparks and cinders flew in the air after the tremendous plume of black soot.

Steve was leaning heavily on Kono as he insisted upon waiting to make sure that Chin and the fireman had Danny safely in a carry position. But he was dizzy and sick by the time he and Kono reached the small dirt path and when he collapsed, Steve pulled Kono to her own knees with a stunned exclamation.

"No, no, no! Steve, stay on your feet!" She couldn't hold him up as they hit the ground together and his head sagged to his chest. He could only look up briefly as his vision swam and oddly, he glimpsed a blood-stained white sheet off to the side. With his chest seizing from a fist-sized weight that seemed to be constricting his lungs, he was gasping for air again. Kono was horrified as his lips began to take on a distressing tinge of blue. "I need help here!"

Steve wanted to ask about what had to be a body and then he wanted to apologize to Kono. However by then, he couldn't even speak as HPD officers and firemen surrounded them to cover his face with yet another oxygen mask. Kono moved aside for the stronger men to physically carry Steve the rest of he way towards the small parking area by the main highway. The critically injured Michael Jameson had been evacuated seconds earlier and the second ambulance was parking in the spot it had just vacated. It was clear that Danny would go next based on his condition.

"Kono?" Steve blinked his eyes rapidly when he felt the world tip on end and things around him blackened into silence. When Steve came around next, an oxygen mask was still over his nose and mouth and he could hear a loud hum of engines and a barrage of strident voices. Different people were caring for him now and with a start, he realized that he had lost consciousness for a short time. Kono was nowhere in sight and he struggled briefly against the strange, restraining hands.

"Kono?" Glassy-eyed, Steve called brokenly for her again as he looked up through a blurry haze and was stopped when he tried to remove the mask fastened to his face. He vaguely knew that he was on a gurney and could only sense the hectic activity around him. One arm was encased with a blood pressure cuff and the other already sported a white but blood-stained bandage. None of it appealed to him and Steve made a concerted effort to once more get up or at least get the mask removed. The strong hand that once more stopped him was compounded by an equally stern male voice which belonged to a rather flustered EMT.

"Sir? Commander? You have to stay calm for us." He may have said those very words a good many times to Steve based on his exasperated tone. It caught his attention and Steve tried to relax as the EMT made a quick promise. "Sir, if you hang on for just one second. I'll get Officer Kalakaua for you .. but sir, you do need to remain exactly where you are. You absolutely can not get up!"

As promised, her face suddenly appeared and it was just for a second since the EMT's wanted to get on their way as quickly as possible. But it was enough for Steve to read the blatant concern for both of them before his vision began to gray from another abusive bout of coughing. On his opposite side, he felt a prick in his hand as the standard IV was prepared. He wanted to ask more but the cloudiness at the edges of his vision gathered to form a murky darkness and Steve closed his eyes as the dizziness began to increase. But he felt Kono's steady hand on his arm as the gurney began to move.

"He's okay so far, Steve. He's already on the bus and on the highway. Chin's with him and you're next." Steve's hearing was the last to go before he lost consciousness and he murmured in relief when he finally heard Kono's reassuring voice. Worn out from the day's trauma and unable to stop the plunge, Steve finally fell completely to the darkness.

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	21. Chapter 21

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

**Chapter Twenty-One**

Completely flat on his back, Danny lay unconscious in the ICU with his neck immobilized. The brace was the first thing you noticed when you entered his room. Under a white bandage, part of his hair had been shaved off so that seven stitches could neatly close the gash in the back of his head. Between the overwhelming neck brace and large CPAP oxygen mask, all that remained visible were his eyes and deeply furrowed forehead. Despite the change of clothes to hospital issue and for being cleaned up, there was a residual odor of smoke lingering around him.

Warm blankets were pulled nearly up to his chin and his one visible arm sported a blood pressure cuff that was taking readings every fifteen minutes and no less than three I.V. lines which were dispensing both fluids and a cocktail of pain medications plus anti-inflammatories. His poor oxygen levels were constantly being watched, and under the blankets, leads connected to a heart monitor.

It was always what you couldn't see that seemed to cause the most problems though. Suffering from smoke inhalation, acute whiplash and a grade three concussion, Doctor Ramirez called him a '_veritable mess'_ who would thankfully heal with time and even much longer rest.

Chin was sitting with him, cognizant that it was the same room which Steve had once occupied so many weeks earlier. Distinctly dwelling on the fact that Steve and Danny might not be on the same page professionally. The altercation with Eric Jameson had been serious. No one yet really knew many of the details and Chin was concerned about each of those missing pieces.

"What the hell happened out there, Danny?" Except for Danny needing to return Grace to the Edwards' a full day early, the weekend had been fairly normal. Yet now, this had happened to leave both Chin and Kono worrying about the future of their team. One day had been so close to normal and another had taken it away from them.

Lapsing in and out of consciousness, Danny remained confused and agitated over what had occurred the prior day. Down the hall, Steve was also housed in the ICU. He too was bedridden and receiving a much similar battery of treatment for smoke inhalation as his partner. The difference being that Steve was quite aware of what was happening after awakening nearly ten hours post-collapse at the scene. But feeling ill and still critical, Doctor Ramirez had forbidden any stressful questioning until otherwise instructed.

"Steve's just down the hall." Chin whispered softly. "Doc's got him on every monitor in the hospital to make sure his lungs and heart are okay. So far, so good."

Basically, any responder knew no more than what they had heard on the police radios or witnessed themselves. Ed Harris wasn't talking and Eric Jameson was in the morgue. His son, Michael, was also in the TAMC ICU but in an induced coma and on life support for the foreseeable future.

Chin rubbed his eyes wearily. Both Steve and Danny had undergone a regimen of tests, scans, exams and then been sedated so that a buildup of mucus and inhaled debris could be gently suctioned through a fiberoptic bronchoscopy. They were each barely escaping being intubated with the aid of the CPAP device which helped each maintain positive air flow for their hyper-sensitized lungs; Steve more so the luckier one in that regard because of his past history and exposure to both heat and smoke. Ramirez was everyone's worst drill sergeant nightmare as he monitored each report, blood test, scan and x-ray.

"You're okay." Still whispering, Chin got to his feet just as Danny began to move. He leaned over the rail to the bed and hit the call button for the nurse. He was already an expert at reading the furrowed brow or the subtle twitch which would soon escalate to a more severe level of agitation or, if they ever finally got a decent break, a better return to awareness. The worst was that Danny always dissolved into a ridiculously painful bout of coughing that undoubtedly strained his neck and rattled his badly concussed head. At a loss of what to do, Chin could only stand back as Ponch or the on-call doctor came running in to sedate Danny from the serious level of pain and distress he was feeling.

"Danny." He heard Chin's voice as he slowly came awake. He heard him clearly, but Danny forgot when he felt it again. He tried to move his head, failed as pain erupted into his shoulders, and convulsively wrapped his hands around what seemed to be a bed-sheet or soft blanket. A hard 'something' enclosed his neck and it pushed uncomfortably into the top of his shoulders and jawline. He knew his breathing altered as a feeling of fear bubbled in his chest and he swallowed hard. But that just made him more aware of the deep-seated ache inside his throat and chest which complimented the throb in his head and neck. He inhaled a shallow breath and immediately coughed which burned everything from his throat down to the depth of his lungs and he moaned softly in pain.

"_Hurts_." He tried to talk and failed at that too as he screwed his eyes tightly closed through another rasping exhale.

"Danny. It's Chin. You're okay .. can you open your eyes for me?" He had said those words numerous times over the last many hours. Danny had woken before. Sometimes for only seconds and other times for a few minutes, but he was never wholly with them. Doctor Ramirez contributed the confusion to both the head injury and effects of the smoke inhalation. As the long twenty-fours progressed, Chin had found it easier to simply page the nurses in case things continued to take a deep dive south.

As the garbled cough eased, Danny managed to peel his eyes partially open. He blinked furiously at the white ceiling; utterly confused by the hazy view because he expected to see his friend. "_Chin_." He tried to whisper and coughed again around the jagged soreness in his throat. He was distinctly miserable and simultaneously worried about his inability to move his head. Reacting to another stifling pressure, Danny reached one hand up to brush off whatever lay across his nose and mouth.

"Hey, brah. Don't try to move." Glassy, unfocused eyes slowly opened to stare up at the ceiling. It was much the same as each previous time and Chin barely hid his unhappy frown as he anticipated trouble. He had to stand directly over his friend due to his immobilized neck. Of which, that restraint was what instigated the problem each and every time. Danny would wake, attempt to move his head and feel the thick heaviness around his neck. There would be a startled cough or raspy inhale. On its heels, would come the realization that his mouth and nose were encased by the bulky CPAP device. Flat on his back and feeling immediately trapped, Danny hadn't been able to make it past the confusion or systemic pain to a more reasonable state. Worried about a severe spike in blood pressure, a depression in his oxygen saturation, or even dangerous change in his heart rate, Ponch had actually sedated him twice. Any more similar events would lead the doctors to reconsider the intelligence of using the CPAP versus sedating him for placement on a ventilator.

Chin hadn't spoken to Danny since he'd arrived at Tripler. Actually, in twenty-four very long hours of time, no one had. "You're okay." Chin repeated lamely as he shifted his feet when he saw the rough swallow. He nimbly caught Danny's hand as it weakly flailed towards his face. "No. Don't touch."

It was a repetitive, tedious dance and Chin leaned closer and diligently got in his direct line of sight. "Danny. It's Chin. You're okay."

The dark head finally appeared and Danny gripped the hand back that clenched his so tightly. Still confused, he had so many questions to ask but Chin was already shaking his head about the idea. So this time, Danny swallowed a third time and clung to Chin's hand. Both responses gave Chin some hope which was compounded when Danny's eyes truly focused on his face. He smiled broadly and spoke quickly to take advantage of what might be only a shortly timed improvement.

"You're in the hospital and you're going to be okay." Chin started there and stressed each syllable carefully. "Doc has your neck braced because you got whiplashed in the explosion. I know you feel awful, but nothing's broken, brah. Promise."

He waited to make sure Danny was following him and smiled when Danny squeezed his fingers in understanding that he was in the hospital. He could see the budding confusion growing though, so quickly continued his explanation. "Don't try to move or talk. You're also being treated for a concussion and smoke inhalation. Doc says you'll be good as new in no time."

"_Fire_." Chin's steady commentary brought the memories forward and Danny's eyes cleared even more. He remembered the fire, the explosion and Michael Jameson. Steve. A heavy exchange of gunfire with the elder Jameson and his criminal crew. Danny frowned and squeezed Chin's hand harder. "_Steve_?"

Telling Danny not to talk was an open door invitation for him to do exactly the opposite. It was made worse by Danny's newly growing comprehension.

"No. I said to _NOT_ talk." Chin squeezed his hand in warning as he saw the frown and even harder swallow before Danny's lips tried to move under the oxygen mask.

"Do you always have to be so contrary, Danny?" The friendly question brought on a weak smile which even crinkled his eyes this time and Chin softly laughed. The change was a huge improvement and he knew that Ponch wouldn't be the only happy friend to hear that Danny was more aware. Then he breezily hit the mark and Danny completely relaxed.

"Steve is here, just down the hall. He's being treated for smoke inhalation as you are. He's going to be okay. Doc says he had to be monitored for a few days, but there are no lasting effects."

Chin became serious again though when Danny grimaced unexpectedly and his fingers convulsed. With careful questioning that required Danny only squeeze his hand, Chin discovered that his head and neck were causing some discomfort by the time the nurse arrived a few minutes later.

"You need more rest. You get tired easily and that's to be expected. You're also do for pain medication." She was soothing and calm as she dispensed a particular medication and anti-inflammatory through his IV port with a practiced hand. His continued dry swallows had her wisely offering him something to ease the raspy pain in his throat, too.

"Ice? I can remove the oxygen for a second if you'd like to try some ice before you go back to sleep?" His face clearly agreed and she removed the mask for the few seconds it took for Danny to have some ice chips to soothe the damaged tissues. He closed his eyes at the sheer relief the cool liquid brought and obeyed Chin by squeezing his hand in thanks. Minutes later, Danny was sleeping soundly and Chin exhaled loudly that for once, things had gone very well.

"He should sleep for a while. But the Commander is awake if you want to tell him the good news? Please keep it brief." The nurse suggested with a smile of her own. She was checking Danny's readings and getting ready to change out the used bag of clear fluids. But it was clear that Danny was resting more comfortably. Chin readily agreed with a crooked smile as he disappeared quickly around the corner.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

Steve usually looked up as soon as he caught movement in the corridor or doorway. An ingrained habit in only ten short hours, he had been disappointed the last two times when nurses had entered his room to check his lungs and general stats. Each had reported the same, unerringly worrisome condition of his partner. Neither Chin nor Kono knew anything differently and he'd asked that they remain closer to Danny's room than to his.

Doctor Ramirez had seen both of them many times. He was uncharacteristically reserved about discussing Danny's condition. First he worried about the unknown extent of his neck injury. After learning the circumstances, Ponch had rounded on Chin for allowing him to be moved without proper care. The severity of the head wound followed and it had taken hours for Ramirez to be satisfied that Danny's skull was fracture-free. All of which, was exacerbated by smoke inhalation. As Ponch had stated in complete frustration, Danny was a "veritable mess" of physical issues any one of which alone could kill him. Chin understood the doctor's anxiety because it reflected his own. He took it all in stride. So, in his usual fashion, he absorbed the brow-beating and then had graciously accepted the heart-felt apology.

Doctor Ramirez was close to every member of the Five-0 team. However, he and Danny had hit it off the most and the older doctor felt almost fatherly towards the younger Detective. Danny had also become a stronger family friend upon the arrival of the doctor's brother to Hawaii. A mainlander like Danny, Mikey Ramirez was a single father with a daughter who was the same age as Grace. The families were close and the children had grown to have a similar friendship.

When Steve woke first, he'd been only briefly brought up to speed per Doctor Ramirez's strict orders to avoid undue stress. At first, that had been relatively easy since Steve was quite ill. Only able to digest the basics, he had nodded after being told that Danny was just a few rooms away. Being cared for and resting, Chin and Kono would take care of both their needs as well as any Five-0 responsibilities. At the time, that had been enough and Steve had drifted off to another fitful, uncomfortable period of sleep.

Now nearly eight hours later, Steve still felt sick. Dizzy, nauseous and wracked with persistent headaches, he definitely was more than under the weather. His blood pressure was not right, his oxygen saturation continued to be poor and his breathing was harsh and painful. Ramirez cautioned about the possibility of pneumonia or infection and was persistent in the management of his heart and lung care. But now Steve wanted to know more and was fast growing tired of evasive answers.

Steve knew that Ramirez was protecting him. However, that tact was a double-edge sword. He had been disappointed the last two times when nurses had entered his room. The never changing news delivered in the same quiet tones had been worrisome hour upon long hour. So this time when he sensed activity near his doorway, he didn't bother to look. Steve schooled his expression because he didn't want to see another nurse or doctor who had nothing beneficial to share. He leaned back into the pillows and studiously closed his eyes against the curiosity and hope. He didn't want to be disappointed yet again.

But lounging in the doorway, Chin was studying him with an educated eye. He watched each ragged breath, heard the congestion and saw the grimace as Steve tried to stifle a cough. His eyes were tearing from the stress when they opened but instead of looking at Chin, he reached for the cup of ice, pulled off the oxygen mask, and spooned himself a few chips. Chin watched him and wondered how the two men were going to work together after this latest fiasco. He wanted to ask but was almost afraid to; he would use the guise of the Jameson case, but Ramirez had forbidden any such topics until he granted permission.

Their relationship had improved since Steve's accident. Whatever had happened between them after Steve's migraine and over that following Saturday had been a healthy kick-start. For the value of that healing weekend, Chin knew that Danny hadn't forgotten Steve's close call. He wasn't sure what the two would do once they recovered and Chin worried about the pending fall-out.

Nervously he watched as Steve fed himself more ice and then closed his eyes in exhaustion. His bicep was wrapped in a clean, neatly done up bandage. The crease was deep and had needed to be debrided. It was painful like everything else seemed to be, but it would heal. The cup of ice fell sideways in Steve's hands and it almost appeared as if he had fallen asleep. Experience told Chin that he was far from that relaxed and he finally entered the room.

"How do you feel?" Chin casually whispered before striding in to confront the startled man. Before he could reply, Chin was fixing the oxygen mask and retrieving the cup of ice.

"How's Danny?' The question for a question was another almost irritating routine that Chin had learned since at least, Steve woke. Resenting the mask, Steve's hoarse voice echoed under the annoying device. There was no mistaking the ongoing worry as Danny's condition essentially remained the same each time, but he sensed something different in Chin. "Is he awake? What happened?"

"He looks pretty bad." Chin admitted quietly. Which was the truth and Steve would be shocked when he eventually was allowed to venture out of bed for a visit, but he couldn't stand the way Steve's face shuttered off and his eyes darkened.

"Danny does look bad, but he just woke for a little while."

"And?" Steve demanded softly. "What's the latest?"

"He was better." Unable to hold it back, Chin had to smile. "He knew where he was and what happened. He was due for meds and they're strong, so he just fell asleep. He was definitely better though this time, Steve."

Chin couldn't help grinning as Steve sagged in relief into the elevated mattress and plump pillows. With his eyes closed, he pinched the space between his eyes and coughed heavily behind the mask. "Good." He whispered with a hacking cough that he disgustedly frowned around. "That's .. good."

Leaning to fix the sheets over his friend, Chin sighed. He had to meet his cousin at the offices because a young woman claiming to be Michael Jameson's fiancee had unexpectedly shown up. She might be the last cog in the wheel and Kono needed his help in bringing the upset woman to terms with what was going on. There was a brief nod as Steve sank deeper into the bed at the words which acted as Chin's permission to leave.

"Get some sleep, Steve. Danny's doing better, and we'll both be back later." Steve was already sleeping though and Chin paused with a thoughtful expression. He remained concerned that two of his best friends might not redeem their friendship or working relationship after such a terribly unforeseen attack. He sighed with some final sadness before leaving the hospital for the day.

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	22. Chapter 22

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes: ** sorry for the delay. On a last minute business trip and this needed much tweaking. I hope this chapter meets expectations; it was difficult to bring together just so. My thanks to Fifilla and CinderH for such patience!

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

**Chapter Twenty-two**

The following day found Danny in precisely the same straits. Awake and aware, he was already frustrated in not only his sickness, but the perpetually flat physical position he was forced to lay in, doubly entrapped by the strict neck brace. He had been about to thumb the call button when he'd received a very unexpected visitor at the best possible moment. It was apparent that Steve didn't actually have permission to be out of bed though for his covert quickness and vain attempts to hide his ragged coughing.

"You shouldn't be here." Danny's voice would be hoarse and his lungs congested for days yet to come but the harsh cough continually rattled his neck and aching head mercilessly. He squinted through the pain as Steve stifled a cough and held up his hand as way of argument.

"Five minutes. I'll go back." Similarly to Danny's growing complaints, Steve was having difficulty staying bedridden even though he felt as if he was about to choke up a lung. He'd be thrilled if medicine could find a way to remove his lungs and subsequently wash and rinse them out for reinsertion to his body.

"It's bad enough .. that I hurt .. so much." With a distinct effort, he whispered his plea through the oxygen mask while gripping the side of the bedrail. In just a few short hours, Danny felt as if he would go crazy for lack of movement and the helpless, stranded feeling where he could only blindly stare straight up at the ceiling. "But .. I can't stay like this, Steve."

"Yes, you can and actually .. you have to." Having gone AWOL from his bed, absconded with a wheelchair, and then having abandoned said chair after getting from point A, his bed, to point B, Danny's room, Steve was leaning over him now. He kept looking over his shoulder for either Doctor Ramirez or some nurse who undoubtedly would be looking for him within the next few minutes. There would be an inquisition and then hell to pay for his illicit gamble. Having removed not only his own IV and more typical oxygen mask, he was due for another chest x-ray and was on the lam.

Until then, Steve sighed in understanding as he placed what he hoped was a soothing hand on Danny's shoulder. The room had been too close and the temptation too strong. However, Steve had felt relatively fine until he got moving. The activity made him feel woozy and very unsteady and he pushed down his own sick feeling resolutely. A few minutes wouldn't matter ... he wouldn't stay long. But as he looked down at his partner, he was dismayed that Chin had been so right because Danny did look awful.

Steve's throat was just as rough and raspy with lungs equally stressed and congested. Barely above a whisper, he was breathless as he tried to offer Danny some sort of comfort. "You're going to be alright. Doc is worried about the muscle spasms in your neck and shoulders. You have a bad concussion and he needs you to hang in there a bit longer."

Sweat dotted Danny's forehead as he argued against being able to last even another torturous second. "Nope. Can't."

"Stop being so negative." Trying to answer lightly, Steve didn't like the heat or tremble he could feel under his hand. His partner was truly stressed about his predicament. "Just relax. You need to try and stay relaxed."

"Says you who can stand." It didn't matter that Steve was breaking the rules. The issue was that he _could_ and even though he was extremely relieved for the impromptu visit, that fact was beginning to upset Danny even more. Is only relief was that Steve hadn't suffered more damage himself after such a recent recovery from the prior fall.

"But .. really .. you should go back." Danny insisted it again as frustration and exasperation covered his tone as he tried to will himself to stay calm. Weary and ill, Danny pleaded with Steve only ten seconds later when he remained leaning over the bed. "Ask him again. I just want to sit up and I want out of this contraption."

"Doc said tomorrow and you know he won't change his mind." The severe concussion was a big part of the concern and Ramirez was moving slowly in his usual conservative fashion. Their thick gravelly voiced, soft argument went on for minutes on end until Steve's voice simply failed and he borrowed Danny's ice to soothe his throat. The muffled sound of ice upon ice in the small paper cup sparked another disagreement.

"Hey. Get your own." Petulant squeaks rounded on Steve for daring to take the small cup. The defensive retort about something as minor as taking ice, was just that ... prickly and utterly uncaring of Danny's annoyed raspy complaint.

"Get over it, Danno. I needed it now and it was just going to melt. We can get more. It's free you know." There was a disgusted half snort, another cough and more rattling of the small chips in the cup. The room quieted for a millisecond as Steve sucked on the ice and got his breath back under control. Neither of them felt well and what seemed like a good idea at the time was now tiring and wearing on both of them. Steve made a face as his partner's hand flapped on his chest.

"It's mine .. you didn't even ask. And now ... you've contaminated my .. spoon." Then Danny's voice quit and he screwed his eyes tightly closed as a tickle closed his throat. The resulting cough, no matter how hard he tried to suppress it, shook his head and neck. It left him panting and miserably unable to open his tearing eyes as his headache skyrocketed again.

Patiently, Steve waited with the smallest ice chip he could find poised over Danny's face. "Ready?" There was no nod of course, just a garbled affirmative and Steve obliged him as he helped move the mask first. Seconds passed before Danny's reddened face returned to a more acceptable color and the pained tears eased.

"I can't." His eyes were glassy with exhaustion when they opened slowly to stare blindly straight up at the plain white ceiling. "Raise the bed for me. I really .. really can't stay like this, Steve."

Steve hung his head dismally, even though a small smile peeked out from the corners of his mouth as the round robin discussion started all over again. "Yes, you can." It was going to be a very, very long week. He saw the deep swallow and winced in sympathy when Danny did, for the pain in his head and neck. The backdraft had created a terrible set of injuries on top of the smoke inhalation.

"You know I can't do that, Danny. Any changes you insist on are going to be a mistake. A painful mistake and no, I'm not going to be party to it."

"It's impossible." But Danny only rattled the bed frame by pulling on the rail. He was almost annoyed by Steve's attempt to make him feel better and yet, refusal to help him. "It's not going to work. I can't do it."

"Danny." Steve sighed his name out softly and shook his head because his hands were tied and he needed to sit down himself. His voice broke from the strain of talking too much and he was barely audible. "Get some sleep .. try to sleep."

Not entirely surprised to find Steve's hospital bed empty, Kono tracked him down easily enough to Danny's room. She knew Chin would find them once he came up from the cafeteria and another visit to check the status of Michael Jameson's own dire condition. The two cousins had a lot to fill them in on related to both son and father. Standing in the doorway now, she was shaking her own head in stunned disbelief. The repertoire was fascinating as it went round and round to circle back to its identical starting point.

She could only see Steve's hunched shoulders and an occasional wave of Danny's hand from his bedridden position. Both coughed heavily which made hearing parts of their conversation quite difficult. She could only barely make out some words here and there; the whispers were so softly muffled and Danny's face was covered by an oxygen mask, so Kono was really missing most of it. In fact, she couldn't precisely understand if they were talking nicely or arguing, and she was still worried about the latter being the case.

_"... changes you insist on ... a mistake. A ... mistake ...I'm not going to be ..."_

_"... impossible ... not going to work. ... can't do it."_

"Come on, guys." Her eyes showed their worry when she caught fragments of Steve's words and then Danny's. They were talking about changes, mistakes and it sounded as if Danny wasn't going to be able to cope with Steve's partnership. Kono hugged her arms to her body as she murmured to herself. She desperately needed Chin to intervene as she stared uncertainly at her friends. "No way."

She was about to enter the room when she felt a large hand envelope her shoulder. The stern squeeze was a gentle message to remain quiet as Doctor Ramirez loomed almost angrily. His presence was overwhelming and changed the feeling almost instantly. Kono was forced to alter her plans as Ramirez walked around her to enter the room. Behind him was a nurse carrying a soft cervical collar and other supplies that were obviously intended for Danny.

Danny saw Steve's face while Kono read his change in posture. "What's wrong?" Danny growled out softly. His brow was pinched and he swallowed hard against the sharp gravelly feeling in his throat. The dramatic wince communicated what Danny couldn't quite see or sense yet, but he guessed it correctly. Doctor Ramirez had arrived. "Caught?"

"Yup." Steve made a face to confirm that fact and Danny blinked up as the large shadow covered Steve and then his own bed. His lips was still bent in an odd half-apologetic smile as he sank into the wheelchair. "What's up, Doc?"

He tried to make it funny, but it fell flat especially when the big doctor wasn't even remotely interested in basic civilities at that point. "I was just leaving .. after checking .. on Danny."

Steve stared up at Ramirez through a choked series of muffled coughs. In one hand, the doctor had a syringe and in the other what looked like towels and chemical ice packs. The nurse was definitely carrying a smaller, softer foam cervical collar. Danny was at least going to get one of his wishes. He opened his mouth to add how his partner would be appreciating the coming therapy. Steve could only close it without uttering a word after giving the doctor a sick, little shrug when the man's face became much more severe.

"I'll go." Steve used his feet to roll the wheelchair back and then finally saw Kono. "She'll help .. I'll go and Kono will help." Wordlessly, Ramirez stared back as Steve and Kono left the room; Steve perhaps in a much more self-conscious rush. With just a look towards his nurse, the woman placed her supplies on the small table, and then left his side to ensure the SEAL made it back into his own bed safely.

Ramirez turned back to Danny and cocked his head to stare at his patient. He pursed his lips and sighed at the somewhat comical but stressed expression since Danny had easily guessed the mood, but could see little of what was intended. "What are you doing?" Danny asked.

Without at first answering, Ramirez began to remove the bulky hard collar and Danny's eyes widened in relief. It was gently removed as Ramirez skillfully placed the ice packs where he wanted them around Danny's neck and shoulders.

"I don't want your muscles to seize even more. We're going to try a few things." His explanation was as brief and simple as the treatment. He explained the limited use of the new collar for the next few days. An injection of lidocaine would numb his painful muscles to relieve the spasms associated to the injury. The ice packs were the coup de grace though and Danny nearly melted when Ponch began to position them.

"Oh, god." Danny couldn't help the honest moan of relief as the ice was rested against his most sore muscles. He blinked his eyes and closed them as Ponch quietly puttered around with the most basic of treatments to his patient's utter contentment. He barely noticed the time lapse or the small sting of the lidocaine injection as he dozed around small coughs. He roused briefly for the new cervical collar which was by far, a big improvement to what he'd previously been inflicted with.

"Just a small change." Ramirez murmured as he raised the bed on the most slight of angles. It was hardly a major difference but he didn't want to do too much to strain the newly easing muscles or negatively affect the symptoms of concussion. However, Danny never heard or noticed as he fell peacefully asleep. With a soft puff of pleased sound, Ramirez smiled as he shoved his hands characteristically in his pockets to finger the pen he had there.

"Now, let's go see that partner of yours." Turning sharply on his heel, Danny never heard the man's parting words. "

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	23. Chapter 23

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes:** super duper long chapter - but so much has been going on.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

**Chapter Twenty-three**

Chin met them in the hallway just as Kono was wheeling Steve back to his own room in the ICU. He had just spent time with the still comatose Michael Jameson and the badly injured man's fiancée. The jury was still out on if he would live, let alone recover but his fiancée was determined to stay by his side. Her gesture and dedication were lovingly touching and he was in a quiet, melancholy mood.

He wanted to bring them up to speed on that sad news. However he and Kono had to wait to discuss not only that, but the latest on the case. The nurse who Ramirez sent was hot on their heels with a look of severe dissatisfaction laced permanently across her face.

"Please wait outside." She requested cooly as she took over Steve's wheelchair. The Jameson case was also the last thing that Kono wanted to talk about as she and Chin were pushed out of the room until permitted to return.

Steve didn't bother smiling at the nurse as she helped him stand and transfer to the bed. She was stern about his readings and clearly picking up on Doctor Ramirez's annoyance. Plus he was admittedly tired now and feeling weak as a coughing spasm took his breath away. He was sweating and feeling nauseous by the time it stopped and he got his breathing back under control. The nurse's expression was kind but also mixed with a wise and subtle "_we told you so_" smirk as he knuckled his aching sternum.

"Please ask for help next time." She cautioned without too much a worse reprimand which Steve appreciated since she obviously saw his pale, greenish hue as he tiredly nodded in agreement. Then she was gone to leave Steve to rest and get his physical woes under control.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

In the hallway after the nurse shooed them away, Kono took Chin by the arm to walk further away from the rooms to a private corner. "Doctor Ramirez is with Danny."

"I see that Steve was, too, by the looks of things?" The wryly sniffed observation indicated that Chin clearly picked up on the tension between Steve, the nurse and even his cousin who seemed more upset than she should be. He rightly assumed that Steve likely shouldn't have been out of bed. Something else was wrong though. Since he could tell that Steve was generally fine based on the nurse's basic actions to get him hooked up to the right machines once more, it had to be Danny.

"Ramirez is with Danny? What's wrong with him? He's not .. more sick .. is he?" Suddenly worried that he'd misread the clues, Chin didn't know which way to turn between the overly rooms in the ICU.

"I don't know. Doctor Ramirez pretty much demanded that we leave and then he sent the nurse after us." Kono admitted softly. She only knew that he was in the same physical position and that Steve and he had been discussing something that sounded suspiciously like their old problem. Her face was an open book which Chin easily read to wonder if that problem had sadly come to the fore yet again.

"I didn't have time to ask and Doc was truthfully angry that Steve was out of bed without help." Her whisper was low as another busy nurse walked by them.

"Actually, I should say without permission and I guess he disconnected everything, too." She smirked ruefully to amend her words. That at least made sense. "But Steve and Danny were arguing when I got here. They were arguing about changes and mistakes."

She took a deep breath as she began to share what she thought she had heard. "I think it's over, Chin. Before I could ask, Ramirez showed up and just now the nurse interrupted us. But Steve only mentioned the case and Michael Jameson just before you got here; we had no time to talk about what happened at Vernon Fields between the two of them. If anything."

"I was afraid of that." Chin tentatively admitted. "Steve at least seems okay though he hasn't said anything really one way or another. We've been too worried about him and now Danny. No one has been in any condition to talk about what happened out there."

He rubbed both hands over his face tiredly. He couldn't offer any comforting words because he didn't know one way or another. Danny had confided in him early on and anything could be possible. While Steve was acting normally, that had been prior to the two partners being able to talk alone. Now Kono's uncertain belief about what she had possibly over-heard was very concerning.

"We'll ask Steve." Chin whispered. "He should be strong enough now." Extremely worried, the two were forced to wait in the hallway between the two rooms where both friends were being cared for. They nearly bolted into Steve's room once the nurse allowed them back in for their visit. With oxygen and monitors correctly in place, Steve rolled his eyes dramatically at the ceiling with a grin for their benefit. But he looked tired and drawn, too.

"Are you feeling alright?" Kono questioned softly. He smiled and nodded with a raspy sigh.

"That was awkward. I can't wait for round two." Meaning Doctor Ramirez, Steve expressed it as a joke around a cough and a measured inhale of clean oxygen. The nurse had been annoyed about his blood pressure and the pulse oxymeter had declared his oxygen levels lower than she wanted to see. If she didn't verbally report it to him first, regardless the doctor would see it in his files.

"Ramirez will be in here, soon. I'm sure. Until then, how's Michael Jameson? Have you found out anything else between these two and the men that tried to take us down?" Steve looked from one to the other and then frowned as neither cousin answered him. "Well. What's up?" The room was completely silent until Kono couldn't help herself any longer.

"Are you two .. okay?" Kono blurted abruptly. "I mean .. you have to tell us if you aren't. We have a right to know."

"Excuse me ... uh, what?" Muffled under the oxygen mask, Steve was utterly confused by the spontaneous question. "Who?"

"Danny." Glancing to Kono's tight posture, Chin shrugged before chiming in to clarify because Steve's face remained blankly confused. Knowing that Ponch had cautioned them about stress, Chin went slowly and kept an eye out for Steve's reaction.

"You and Danny. Kono and I are worried that you two are calling it quits after this. Just like we both did when it happened, he took your accident pretty badly. You almost died and he went to this weird place and now all of this happened."

With his confusion growing at what was beginning to sound almost like an attack, Steve gave out with a garbled sound under the oxygen mask as Chin took over the conversation. His tone was subdued and careful as he tried to avoid any emotional outbursts. "Just a few days ago, things were getting better. But now ... with this Jameson case and what happened at the apartment building."

Chin's voice trailed off as he worriedly shrugged again for lack of anything else to do. "You both got hurt badly and we don't know what happened out there, Steve. So, like Kono just asked ... are you two okay? Or do we have to get ready for a bigger problem ... and significant changes?"

During the recitation, Steve's eyes had gotten bigger in an honest surprise about their questions and concern. He stuttered, coughed and then frowned as he seriously looked from one to the other. What came out was a statement of fact as he drew one particular, negative conclusion.

"You think I did something. I don't believe this." He said it plainly as the realization sank into his brain and Chin had the grace to shift uncomfortably from one foot to the other. Kono stood ramrod straight with her arms hugged tightly to her sides as she never took her eyes from his face. She was afraid but also almost daring him to lie about it.

"You think that I did something that got me or god forbid ... _both of_ _us_ ... hurt? Or, at least did something that might have rubbed Danny the wrong way?" Steve wasn't sure if he should be furious, insulted or amused as he digested their ongoing silence. His anger flared as he hoarsely coughed words that were almost a warning. "Have you two totally lost your minds?"

"No, Steve. Don't get upset." Chin's hand went up fearfully as Steve's face reddened and his voice rose more harshly. "It's not what either of us meant. Take it easy!" He started talking at the same time Kono also attempted to correct and calm Steve's unexpected response.

"Wait .. no." He had hit the mark but possibly gone too far because Kono was suddenly shaking her head as if mortified and her mouth fell open in shock. Steve wasn't sure he cared as he watched the young woman fumble for words.

"No. Not exactly all of that .. no. That's not really what I meant!"

"What exactly do you both mean then?" Even muffled under the mask, the anger in his voice was unmistakable. Kono wasn't sure how to explain it after he'd gone down such an extreme path. None of them would ever put another in danger, he'd assumed the wrong thing and was growing angry at what had begun to sound like an interrogation process.

His breathing was ragged to end on a harsh cough. Alarmed now, Chin insisted on resting his hand on Steve's shoulder. "No, brah. That's not what either of us meant. Let Kono explain."

His cousin was upset but determined to clear the air as she repeated herself. "No! That's not it! But ...well .. sort of!" Kono stammered briefly, pleaded with Chin quietly for help, and then threw her hands up in the air in frustration. Her voice rose too, as she pointed in the direction of the hallway and Danny's room. With an effort, she dropped her voice to a whisper when a nurse lingered suddenly in the hallway to see if something was wrong.

"No, I'm sorry! I just heard Danny say that he couldn't take it anymore because it was impossible. You said something about changes and things being a mistake." Eyes still worried and wide, Kono stared at him sadly and hoped she'd done a better job explaining herself. Chin was close to offer support since Kono had to explain what she herself, had overheard before asking Steve again.

"Are they? Are things .. impossible? Has it gotten that bad between you two?"

Still straddling the fence on being extremely angry, Steve's jaw was firmly set as he stared at Kono without answering. But his anger faded as quickly as it had begun to rise. He hadn't realized that Kono had been in the doorway and had overheard parts of their conversation which had then been entirely misconstrued. Allowing his temper to fall away, Steve's answer was newly patient but he omitted a great deal of sensitive, personal information. There would be no easy way to describe it anyway; no way to really explain Danny's desperation for him to do exactly what he had finally _done_. The point now was that he and Danny were okay. Steve committed to memory another important tidbit that concerned the caring personalities of both cousins who were worriedly awaiting for both his reaction and answer.

"Oh." Steve breathed it out as a knowing sigh. He opted to finally go with a calm amusement as he relaxed to tell them the absolute truth by stressing each and every critical word.

"We're good. Nothing happened at the apartment building except we got shanghaied by these bozos. Nothing happened. Danny and I are fine and things are .. well ... fine." He almost laughed at the relief that lightened their dual expressions nearly immediately. With a blithe wave of his hand to stop Kono's apology, Steve smiled and chuckled before coughing and grimacing at the continued tightness in his throat and chest.

"It's okay. You heard Danny telling me how uncomfortable and miserable he's feeling." Steve moderated his tone because his partner had truly been in pain before the doctor arrived. Idly, he rubbed his own chest as another cough bubbled up. He was officially talking too much and his throat was sore and growing more dry with every passing moment. Pausing to move the mask for a drink of water, Steve finished calming the cousin's worst fears.

"He was saying that he couldn't lay there like that any more and I was telling him he had to relax. You heard me arguing with him that I couldn't take the risk of making a mistake in moving him or the bed." Kono blinked at him oddly before coloring self-consciously in comparison to Chin's calmer stance.

"It's Danny." Steve grinned as if that were explanation enough. "It's Danny flat on his back and being prevented from moving. I rest my case!"

Chin chuckled at that and soothingly poked Kono in relief. To change the subject and save them all from continued embarrassment, Steve almost smirked under the oxygen mask. "Now tell me about Michael Jameson ... and what you've found out about Danny's case."

"Good." The warm grin that grew across Chin's face was tantamount to both his relief and agreement about the Jameson case really being Danny's project. Beside him, Kono was still upset though feeling more self-conscious than worried at that point. She allowed the thrum of the conversation to focus on the case and where they were now as they stayed together.

Chin was already waltzing down that path as he pulled up a chair to fill Steve in on their latest findings. "You're right. Danny did about ninety percent of the work on this. He's going to be surprised at the back-story though."

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

Steve was well tucked back into his own bed by the time Doctor Ramirez ambled into his room. He was content to listen to both Chin and Kono describe what they had learned from Al Harris about Eric Jameson. Steve was also remorseful by what he then learned about Michael Jameson and his stalwart fiancée. Ramirez allowed them to finish the few last words of their conversation, admittedly interested in the remnants he was hearing.

"Michael's mother died when he was ten. In a house fire that was blamed on faulty wiring." Steve shook his head sadly because it was blatantly obvious that the elder Jameson had set the fire. He waited patently for Chin to fill in the blanks.

"She had filed for divorce and he'd lost custody of his son. It was ugly based on the old files. So to get back at her, Jameson set the fire and intentionally killed Melissa Jameson." Chin continued quietly. "Michael knew but he was just a kid and no one listened. He waited until he was old enough to do something about it. He was investigating it for years and finally found the proof he needed."

"How did you find this out?" Steve asked. "The man's in a coma right down the hall."

"His fiancée, Natalie McGrath." Kono explained. "She showed up at HPD and filed a missing person's report. Once she showed the photograph, Duke knew of course who Michael Jameson was and so he called us and we met with her. She knew all about what Michael was working on and trying to prove. What she couldn't tell us, she showed us on his computer. He really wanted his father to confess and own up to what he'd done. She was petrified that Eric Jameson had hurt him ... just like he really had."

Steve was both impressed and saddened by the news, but it left other things unanswered. Such as the group surrounding the elder Jameson. "What about these armed men? This Al Harris? They certainly were professional and much too well-armed."

"It's a second and very large unrelated issue." Kono added. "Michael knew that his father was responsible for killing that man down on the docks sixteen months ago. There was no evidence and Michael himself was exonerated after being pulled in for questioning. The HPD case went cold but Michael started to poke around and ask even more questions. One thing led to another and we believe that Michael uncovered a smuggling ring that his father ran with these mercenaries. They've been stealing and smuggling nearly every type of contraband you could imagine through a rather complex network on the dock."

"But the son isn't involved?" Steve wanted to confirm this since Danny had found a rather lengthy rap sheet there, as well. Chin was already reconfirming that fact.

"No. He wasn't involved at all and Natalie is vouching for his character. What he wanted is very personal. In fact, he kept this other smuggling issue from Natalie so she wouldn't be put in any more danger." Chin sighed and then grimaced at what he was about to share.

"He tried to use it though to get his father to confess. This is really all he ever wanted to do. Michael Jameson wanted to blackmail his father into a confession about murdering his mother and he thought he finally had the last silver bullet."

"Wow." Steve didn't know what to say about that portion of the complex puzzle. "And the men? What do we know about them?"

"Necessary collateral damage. It seems that everyone wanted a piece of either Eric Jameson or his very lucrative pie. The two men were part of a small faction - an offshoot of his smuggling ring - and they also intended to blackmail him, but for entirely different reasons." Kono had pulled her tablet out to review notes and photographs.

"The man on the dock and the two in the apartment were part of the smuggling ring and the grass-roots to this new faction. They were growing off as a subset to get more business and were skimming. Basically, stealing from their own group for their own personal profit. They knew their buddy had been killed by Jameson but I guess they misinterpreted his power ... and reach. He had a lesson or message that he sent loud and clear through their deaths."

"They misjudged him as well as the depth of other loyalties." Chin explained. "According to Harris, the faction threatened Eric Jameson and he'd had them killed. At that point, he'd had enough of his son too. His mouth, attitude and whining threats ... Harris said Jameson wanted him gone and used the mess down at the docks as a cover. They decided that they were going to get rid of Vernon Fields and all of their problems in one fell swoop before relocating their operations."

"Good god." Steve complained under his breath. "This is insane."

"It almost worked." Kono added. "He was close to making it happen. If you and Danny hadn't shown up on his doorstep that day, he very well may have gotten away with all of it. He was insane but almost brilliant."

"Most pyromaniacs are. A bit crazy, that is." Doctor Ramirez suddenly added from the corner of the room. "Now you are coupling that with the brains of a murdering psychopath."

"How's Danny?" Steve asked as the conversation came to a close. "You were with him a long time."

"He's much more comfortable now and sleeping." Ramirez shared, perhaps almost too sweetly as he supplanted the cousins with his own imposing body. Not liking the newly roughened sound of Steve's voice or short whistling breaths, he motioned for the cousins to kindly leave. To Steve, he informed his patient of a pending conversation. "You and I though? We need to talk. Or maybe, you will listen while I do the talking."

With that, Kono got to her feet with an almost apologetic smile. She was lighter and much happier though as she walked to the doorway. "We'll go get some coffee and come back later." Nearly dragging Chin by the arm, they disappeared in mere seconds much to Steve's consternation.

"It was just a few minutes." Steve began as way of explanation to the doctor who was now looming directly over head. He was uncertain about how to continue though, when it was clear the doctor didn't feel like hearing excuses.

"Oxygen. Fluids. You're pale and sound terrible." Ramirez glowered at the dark-haired man with a growing irritation. "Not to mention removing the leads to a few necessary monitors. You do realize that my staff is responsible for your actions? You could have fallen or any other number of things could have occurred in your state."

He knew very well that Steve would have also turned the monitors completely off to hide their alarms or else his own team would have come running. He also knew that Steve's drive to visit his partner would over-ride any type of common sense. Ramirez would always have his hands full with whichever man was more mobile than the other.

Studying the recent readings, Ramirez was disgusted. "Heart rate is elevated, blood pressure too high and this ... your oxygen level was and still is only barely in the moderate range."

Ramirez was annoyed on a few levels as he glared at the bedridden man. The fact remained that he had not only jeopardized himself, but also quite seriously put the medical team at a severe disadvantage. The continued expression on Steve's face gave credence to that intentional misuse of that knowledge. Ramirez also knew better than to reiterate those things which Steve already knew quite well, so he got to the point.

"Chest pains? Arrhythmia?" Though the doctor would be able to tell from some test results and readings, Steve sobered as he shook his head to negate the questions. Other than a passing nausea and dizziness, he was already feeling better after being in bed and on oxygen once more. Though he would admit that the long and emotional conversation with his team had drawn on the last of his energy reserves. He was wrung out and struggling to stay awake.

He was about to dictate another demand when Ramirez got the shock of his life as Steve's face altered considerably to one of distinct remorse .. but not entirely for his actions in the ICU. "Listen, Ponch. I know ...I do. I definitely know."

He stopped and then shook his head before running his fingers tiredly through his hair. "Listen .. last month or so, I screwed up and really got turned on my ear by my team. But especially by Danny and I know you will disagree because I went around it the wrong way, but I had to make sure he was okay .. that we were okay."

Steve didn't quite know how to explain the long, complicated process from the time he'd been released to the somewhat tenuous recent relationship. He wasn't even sure that Ponch needed to hear the entire explanation.

He dismally shook his head again as he waved his hand towards the door where Kono and Chin had gone. "Danny and I are good .. it's good .. we worked it out. But I hadn't realized until just a few minutes ago that Chin and Kono thought we were on the outs. My team was becoming splintered and so broken, that we'd lose everything that we've become."

Not actually believing what he heard about the close team, Ramirez stayed quiet as Steve purged what had become half explanation and half confusing, long-winded confession.

"I guess I take a lot for granted sometimes." Steve shrugged because he took Ramirez's friendship and good will for granted as well. Case in point, what had just happened.

"I had to see him; to make sure." However, not once did Steve ever intend to put anyone at a disadvantage. Running out of words, energy and air, his added sincere comment was then for Ponch. "On top of it then, I'm apologizing if you let me. It won't happen again."

There was a long silence as the doctor crunched through what Steve had said and how he'd found the two partners conversing. Danny had been very stressed and very obviously frustrated based upon his rising blood pressure and erratic respiration. There was no doubt Steve had likely kept him calmer than he would have been otherwise. Ramirez knew he didn't have the whole story, but also knew what he had been told was honest and enough for his needs. His long drawn out sigh ended abruptly with an agreeable shrug.

"Alright. Agreed." Internally though, Doctor Ramirez was completely dissembled at that point as he lost his train of thought. His intended reprimands and warnings were forgotten as he took shelter in his profession by focusing on Steve's health. Perhaps his patient was indeed a bit pale and looking fatigued, so he repositioned the oxygen mask and checked the flow. His parting words were simple and brief to leave Steve with a calmer mind.

"We're all on the same page here. Keep the oxygen on and do us all a favor by staying put. Get some rest, Commander. You need it and that's an order." On his way out, Ponch heard the murmur of thanks which was spoken softly to his back.

_**~ to be continued ~**_


	24. Chapter 24

**I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Notes: ** Thank you ALL for staying with me through this! It as usual, got a tad out of control, but I hope it stayed true to itself. Also, many thanks for the ongoing healthy prayers. It seems as if things are really GREAT. The last MRI was conclusive that I don't need surgery. I will have monthly or bi-monthly tests for awhile, but the docs are pleased. Which is such a huge relief. :-) Thank you so very much for your kind words and so many wonderful prayers.

Fifilla, CinderH - thank you so much for the awesome beta help and expertise! Synbou and JazzieG were also equally stupendous for the endless "what if" questions that seemed to take this story off down a longer than intended path.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

They were released within days of each other but forbidden to work actively, which translated to "_not at all_" per doctor's orders. And then weeks later, the best Ramirez would allow for days on end was desk duty for each until the dangers associated to inhaled smoke, concussion and whiplash were well overcome. Without complaint, both resumed desk duty at an excruciatingly slow pace. Danny's focus remained on the Jameson case but more in regard to Michael's well-being, his very personal quest, and what they eventually learned about the mother's death.

The focus gave them something to do together while desk bound in the offices. It also gave the crazy nature of the Eric Jameson case a healthier objective; an outcome other than the terrible trail of threatened, injured and dead people. Leaving HPD, Kono and Chin the task of indicting Al Harris and the identified smugglers that had so terrorized the docks for many months on end, Steve backed Danny up by re-investigating the old fire in L.A. that had taken Melissa Jameson's life and left a small ten-year old boy with a not so diligent father.

Long archived reports were obtained from both Los Angeles Police Department and the fire investigator. Eric Jameson had done such a fine job hiding his handiwork, the incident was never examined as a potential crime scene. Old documents were riddled with words such as 'accidental', unforeseen 'faulty wiring', and 'tragic' in regard to the young mother's lost life. An incendiary was never identified though the fire had burned fast and hot; much like what had occurred at Vernon Fields. The first firemen on site had complained about an odd chemical odor that dissipated.

With Michael unable to share his own findings, Natalie McGrath visited Five-0 headquarters often with his own original investigative work. They key of which was that the fire inspector was a close personal friend of Eric Jameson. One that had been paid off substantially to lie and hide the truth about the murder. Michael had visited this inspector at the assisted living home he was still currently residing in just outside of Los Angeles. With nothing to lose and much guilt which he wished to purge before he passed, the now elderly man had confessed everything to Michael which he had taped during their meeting.

"I think he's one of the most evil men we've looked into." Danny said to Steve as they finished listening to the inspector's old confession on the tape about how he had been paid off by Eric Jameson. Michael had even gotten the old man to sign the confession to paper. Natalie had found the document in the files and handed it to them as more substantive proof.

There had also been a very suspect note from the child protective services employee which had referred to young Michael Jameson's apparent fear of his father. All of these things had gone to the wayside by design or by accident. But they were fast being corrected now. With Natalie McGrath's help and the steadfast intervention of both Danny and Steve with L.A.P.D., the truth about his mother's death so many years ago, and the deadly arson had been resolved.

"You're giving this guy a new beginning, Danny." Steve declared as he hung up the phone for the last time with L.A.P.D.

"He did most of the work himself. He needed a voice and he needed help." Distracted for a moment, Danny was finalizing his report before he looked up from his desk. "You and I just finished what he started. But I definitely can't wait to tell him."

Steve didn't entirely agree about how the bulk of the work had been accomplished. But he did agree that telling both Natalie McGrath and Michael Jameson of the final success was one of the best days he had in quite some time.

After weeks in intensive care, Michael Jameson had finally been moved to a private room and was on his way to a full recovery. He'd been exonerated of any wrong-doing down at the docks or at Vernon Fields, and was anxious for release from the hospital. Regardless of the fact that his father was deceased, he wanted to finish what he had started. But he didn't know what Five-0 and his fiancée had been doing during the long length of his recovery.

It was almost divine providence that Steve and Danny closed out everything just prior to his official release. With their utmost glee, Michael learned of the changes in his mother's death the day he was scheduled to go home. Weak and overwhelmed by their support, he sat with a teary-eyed but beaming Natalie and openly cried in their presence when Steve and Danny presented him with the final documentation.

**H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O* H5O**

The office was quiet in the late afternoon as sunshine spread through the partially opened blinds to Steve's office. Danny was lounging with one hip on Steve's desk with a quizzical expression. Almost alarmed, Steve ducked when Danny leaned over to feel his forehead.

"You're sick. You must be." The statement was delivered dead pan even though Danny's eyes were bright with barely hidden laughter. "You're obviously very, very sick. Maybe I should give Ponch a call to check you out one more time."

"No. No, I'm perfectly fine, Danny." Chin resting arrogantly on tented fingers, Steve was equally amused even though the apparent joke was on him. "I'm having a moment so I hope you enjoy it while you can. It may or may not happen ever again."

"A moment?" Danny repeated and now he was openly smiling. "I should savor it then. Is that what you're trying to say?'

He cocked his head as if considering it and then smirked. "I always said you had great instincts, Danno."

That made Danny laugh outright, the sound of which allowed Steve to lean back happily in his desk chair. He had once missed the back and forth banter and absolute sarcasm that fairly dripped off his partner at both the best and worst of times. He knew that Danny understood that he couldn't make an outright promise not to fall back on his ingrained instincts, training or even his habits. But he would try where and when he could; Danny's laughter was proof of his own understanding, too because Steve had just made a decision. A decision that Danny approved of even though Steve was making it quite clear that it may or may not possibly occur ever again down the road.

Regardless of that moment's decision and uncertainty of the future, both of them were in a very good mood.

As of that day, the two were technically still on desk duty, though Steve was at the cusp of being in the field and easily could be out there now. It was no lie that he wanted to be based on the call that had just come in from HPD. Instead, he sat nearly idle in his office with his exuberant partner. Residual neck and back pain was keeping Danny down just a bit longer than he thought both would. The urgent call had just come in and yet Steve remained in the offices with Danny, while Chin and Kono joined the HPD forces at the bank where a dire hostage situation was in full swing.

That fact was directly responsible for Danny's ongoing good humor and it was rubbing off on Steve as he pushed back from his desk. "It's time. Let's see what we can do."

Leaving the office, the two stood across from each other at the smart table. Steve was soon focused on tracking positions while Danny relayed building schematics.

He looked up when he felt Danny staring at him during a lull in the operation. He had a full Cheshire cat smile as he casually drummed his knuckles on the table. Steve grinned back and then very seriously voiced once more what he had said earlier. "I can't promise you know."

Warmly, Danny extended his hand across the length of the smart desk and Steve had to laugh as they shook to seal the deal.

"Understood. But this, babe? I honestly like this moment." Danny's smile only widened. "It's enough." He stretched his hands wide over the desk and then folded his arms happily over his chest. "Things like this .. this is enough. It will do just fine, Steve."

When the call had come in from HPD, three of the four had begun to immediately gear up. Danny had suddenly stilled and become overly quiet. He had lingered by the lockers to ensure Steve had what he needed. He had double and then triple-checked his partner's weapons, spare gear and pack. Understanding that he couldn't yet go, Danny had even handed the full gear to Steve who had slowly accepted the help. Then things had changed so rapidly, the team had been left momentarily frozen in place.

_"I'm staying here."_ Watching Danny's moody expression, Steve had spontaneously tossed the full pack into the corner. The decision made entirely for his partner was startlingly easy.

_"Danny and I will run things from here; you two are in the field under Chin's direction. Stay in contact and go."_

Steve's reward was Danny's stunned expression and subsequent easy sarcasm. Steve grinned to himself at the recent memory and looked up again to catch Danny's eye. The unspoken truth was that they always had each other's backs. Steve vowed to try to make his own just a little easier for his partner to manage.

_**~ End ~**_


End file.
